


Fly or Fall

by LoveLoveLovix



Category: Winx Club
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Blood, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Near Death, Season 5 AU, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, car crash, death mentions, estranged lesbians who lust for knowledge, gun death, there's a lot of trigger warnings but they're all pretty mild in story so, use of force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 69,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5061343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveLoveLovix/pseuds/LoveLoveLovix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxy believes Earth to be safe forever, and her friends and family to be always by her side. That's the only reason she agrees to go to Alfea College. However, as she departs, she finds herself trapped behind a powerful magical barrier.</p><p>Set up by the Apprentices of the Black Circle, the successors of the Fairy Hunters that made Roxy's last year a wreck, the wall has only one weakness. According to the Apprentices, a Very Special Girl might be able to break it. Finding that fairy may not be as easy it as it sounds, though... not when new magic users are springing up all around the world!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Barrier

**Author's Note:**

> Many characters are the original characters of other Winx Club fandom authors. For the sake of brevity, I am not going to list them here. If you would like to see the credits, or bonus information about this story, please check out the Fanfiction.net version or leave a comment with your questions. Thanks! :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Roxy begins her journey to Alfea College, it is interrupted by the emergence of four wizards.

The lair of the Wizards of the Black Circle was long forgotten by the fairies of Earth. Even if they did remember it for a moment, it didn't hold their interest. The Wizards were dead (one) and gone (the others). The Black Circle held no more harm, and once again, the fairies reigned with no end in sight. Nobody needed to check out some smelly, defunct cavern, hidden in the depths of some underground cave in Kentucky.

The Earth fairies did not value the same things as the other fairies of the Magic Dimension did. The modern women trained with years at Alfea College, at Beta Academy, at Linphea and Golden Auditorium, and countless other places valued cautiousness. The ancient terrestrials were reckless and wild, spreading freshly grown wings in the warm Californian air for the first time in centuries. After the threat of the Wizards (and the perceived threat of the Winx) was eliminated, they  _reigned._

Queen Nebula, sister and friend to the former and ancient Queen Morgana, sat on a throne that may as well have been made with misconceptions. Younger than her sister, and trained for war and not for queenship, she acted a mimicry of royalty. In the early days of the fairies, only one rule was over the newly released women:  _live._  The magic dimension was thrilled to have the Earth back. They could take care of details for a while.

Of course Earth was ill prepared for a new threat. Especially one that was, unlike them, well thought out.

* * *

Nobody ever considered that such a great day could be so totally and utterly ruined.

Princess Roxy Klaus of Tir Nan Og shuffled combat boot-clad feet and blushed as her predecessors gushed over her. She was aware of the honor that was being bestowed upon her... the honor of being the first true Earth fairy in history to go to Alfea College. The famous fairy school had been founded years after the fall of the Earth fairies, but once Nebula, Morgana, and the others had been brought up to date by the Winx Club, they had all realized what an amazing chance that Roxy had.

Behind her, the famous Winx Club stood calmly, for once not surrounded by admirers. Despite their differences in appearance, they had an overwhelming sense of unity, almost as though they had rehearsed every little action. When the crowd cleared from Roxy, they stepped forward together once; then they let their leader continue to bridge the gap towards the younger girl. "Are you ready to go, Roxy?" asked Bloom Peters, princess and heiress to the throne of Domino.

Roxy swallowed hard, then nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said, with a glance to her mother and father. Morgana and Rick smiled their encouragement, and though it was meant to calm the girl and send her on her way, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Roxy ran to her parents and embraced them with some amount of desperation, and more love than many would think possible. "I'm gonna miss you guys!" she said. "It's not fair that I have to go now, when I just got Mom back!"

Morgana took her daughter by the shoulders and met her eyes. "We have centuries, Roxy. Fairies don't die that easily."

"I know," said Roxy, "but I just got you back!"

"You're already a year older than most girls starting at Alfea. The timing is only going to get worse."

"I know, but..."

Morgana smiled. "You're going to have a great time. I wish I could have gone."

Roxy bit her lip and sighed. "So I get to live pretty much forever, but I still have to go when I'm young?"

"Longevity doesn't make age matter any less, believe it or not." Morgana ran a long hand through her greying hair and smiled at her younger sister. "You'll learn. Now go, and we'll see you on the Day of the Rose, right?"

"My first one with my mom... well, my first one in general, but... yeah." The pink haired girl smiled, and took a couple of steps back. "See you guys!"

"Good luck!" Klaus said, and Morgana nodded her agreement, backing into her husband and letting him hold her.

Bloom smiled. "Alright. It's time to go. Winx, Believix!" she ordered.

The seven Winx transformed in colorful flashes of light. Through the twirls and the the flips of growing her wings, Roxy considered what she was about to do. It was time for her to join fairies her own age. There were none of those on Earth, barring the Winx, and they were going back to Alfea whether or not Roxy went with them. Yes, she'd have her family here, but she would always have her family now, no matter where she was, and being the only teen fairy would be a lonely existence.  _That's it, I can't fight it anymore,_ she decided.  _I'm going to Alfea._

The light cleared, and showed a more confident Roxy out of it. With a flutter of wings, the girls lifted off, waving and shouting good-byes as they went. As they reached the clouds, they sped up, showing off by getting in a single file line and swooping in and out. First, Aisha broke the clouds, then Tecna, then Musa. Flora exited with a quick air-curtsey, and Stella blew a kiss at her fans.

As fire exploded across the sky, Bloom burst through the clouds... then fell back to Earth, stunned. For a moment, the fairy was falling freely, but regained her footing (winging?) and attempted to fly upwards again, only to be met by a barrier. "What?" she cried, looking around.

Roxy couldn't see anything either. She flew up to Bloom, and was only slightly caught off guard when she was hit head first with what seemed to be an invisible barrier. "What's going on?" asked the fairy of animals, openly panicked yet again.

"It's like the barrier from the first day of Alfea, all over again," Bloom muttered. "But... I'm magical. You're magical. Girls! Come help us break this!"

The rest of the Winx Club switched directions, heading back to Earth, but found themselves knocked back towards the sky. "What's happening?" "Oh my gosh!" "This isn't logical!"

Bloom seemed to knock back to her leadership role the moment she heard her friends' confusion. "Okay, girls! Let's do this! Tecna... analyze this. Musa, see if you can get through with a sound wave. And... uh, Stella, see if you can illuminate what's going on."

Musa muddled around, unsure what to aim at, but Stella and Tecna came through. Almost at the same time, a deep red barrier that blocked off the Winx from Earth was illuminated, and Tecna nodded. "It's a barrier curse," she said.

"A curse?" Roxy said, her voice lilting in question.

"A malevolent spell, cast to do harm. It must be the witches," Bloom muttered.

Tecna shook her head. "The energy signature is... weird. I can't get a read on it! It's familiar, but not. I'm not sure what's going on!"

"Perhaps," purred an echoing voice that shook the sky and the girls with it, "that would be us."

"Huh?"

Bloom and Roxy whipped around as a rip in the air opened, and tendrils of deep red and purple void spilled out of it. From there, four men stepped into the sky, levitating casually. They looked vaguely like the Wizards of the Black Circle, though even Roxy could feel that their auras were different, and besides, though they looked  _similar,_ they did not look at all  _exactly alike._

They hovered casually, like teenage boys, which was incidentally what they looked like... very delinquent, probably magical high school seniors. One had a dark skin, a black mohawk and a web of red tattoos that covered his entire body. One was a redhead with cropped hair and a very un-cropped beard. Next to him, slightly forward from the others, was a boy with long silver hair in a neat ponytail, and eyes that flashed every color of the rainbow, though each color was tinted darkly. The last one, on closer inspection, had breasts and curves, though they were covered by armor. Their brown skin caught the last light of the day as it glinted, and their brown hair was shaggy and covered their eyes.

"Who are you and what have you done?" demanded Bloom.

The silver-haired boy laughed. His voice was high for a man's. "We, dear fairy, are the Apprentices of the Black Circle."

"Apprentices?" Aisha said harshly. "Well, the Wizards are gone, and you should be too!"

"Nonsense," said the boy. "If the Wizards are gone, that only means it's time for us to show up and show our stuff. After all, we've learned all that they could have taught us intentionally... not to mention, we've learned from the mistakes they've made. Their first mistake was not blocking the Earth off from other magical creatures. After all, if you'd never come, we could still be gaining power from the trapped fairies. Now, there's no way for us to fail. Non-Earth fairies can't get in... Earth fairies can't get out. It's perfect."

"Didn't you learn anything from the Wizards?" Bloom roared. "I'm... not... an  _Earth fairy!_ "

She shot a blast of powerful magic towards the Apprentices, who dodged almost effortlessly. "Big talk from a girl who's trapped," said the boy.

Silently, quivering, Bloom put down her hands, and balled them into fists. "So, the Wizards had apprentices."

"Righto," said the boy. "My name is Killian. The one with tattoos is Trudric, the redhead is Nyklus, and the last one is Gunner. We are the Apprentices of the Black Circle, and we  _will_ do what our masters could not. But," he said, glancing down at the fairies on the ground, staring in abject horror, "perhaps we won't do it right now. Goodbye, Earth fairies and non-terrestrial fairies alike. We'll be seeing you."

As Killian began to float back to the tendrils of void, Roxy found herself speaking. "And  _we_ will find a way to break the barrier and save Earth again!" promised the seventeen year old.

Killian laughed. "Fat chance, fairy. It would take a Very Special Girl to break that barrier... and you seem as usual as they come."

With a wave, the Apprentices jumped into their portal and vanished, leaving Bloom and Roxy on one side, and the other Winx on the other.

There was silence for a moment.

Then, Stella asked in a very small voice, "What do we do now, Bloom?"

"Go to Alfea," said the leader of the Winx Club. "Talk to Miss Faragonda. We need every resource we can! Call me when you've got any clue as to what to do."

"Will cell phones work?" Roxy asked.

"We have yet to believe they don't, and my scan showed no sign of magitechnical interference," Tecna said firmly.

Bloom nodded. "We'll take the chance. Roxy, let's go back to your mom and aunt. We have to warn them... and we have to figure out how to free Earth once again, before it's too late!"


	2. Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A council of royals convenes to deal with the matter at hand, and Roxy doubts that they dealt with it well.

As soon as Bloom and Roxy landed, a conference began, totally unique in style, substance, and attendees. The Great Hall of the castle of Tir Nan Og was almost emptied. The only fairies that sat there were royalty – Nebula presiding, with Morgana advising. Bloom was invited simply for her encounter and her status as a Winx, and Roxy... Roxy had no idea why she had been invited, not when Bloom was already there.

In addition to the four fairies, a computer screen linked up to Magix displayed Faragonda and the rest of the Winx Club. They were an odd contrast to the gravity of the four on Earth, jostling for screen time, pushing the others out of the way. Only Faragonda sat, stagnant and solemn, in the center.

"What I don't get is why Earth is being targeted!" Bloom said, her brow furrowing. "Earth barely has anything compared to the other realms... no big treasure, no big power. Why not go for some other place? What's their motive?"

"Vengeance," said Nebula. She was nearly snarling. Her eyes flashed green, and her wild black hair flew all over the place, even less tamed than usual. "What else?"

"Not just that," disagreed Morgana. "We have less than other realms, that's true. Our fairies are painfully behind the times. We have no Specialists, no witches, no wizards on our side. Were fairies hunted on Magix or Domino, Popularis or Romulea, Antar or Prospit... if those fairies were hunted, they would be defended. We have no one."

"You have  _us,"_ Faragonda said, and the Winx cheered their agreement behind her.

Nebula banged a fist on the heavy wooden table they sat around. "It matters very little if your armies can't get through! We appreciate your support, fairies of Alfea, but do any of us argue that it is not truly our small army against these four? These four, whose masters have already imprisoned us once?"

Faragonda didn't waste time in responding. "You have Bloom. She alone will prove to be an invaluable warrior."

"No," Morgana interrupted. Nebula must have known where her older sister was going, because she nodded her agreement. "We need Bloom elsewhere," Morgana continued. "Bloom, I took the liberty of looking up your records."

"My records?"

As though Bloom had not cut in, Morgana kept talking. "You graduated from high school at age sixteen, with a four point eight GPA.  _How many_ advanced classes did you take?"

"All my classes wer... wait, what's that have to do with anything?"

"In addition, you're an official Alfea graduate," Nebula added. "The only graduate from a fairy college currently on Earth. We need you to come up with another possible way to break the barrier."

Bloom frowned. " But I'm not exactly qualified. I mean, Tecna did all of our strategy and gadget planning. I mean, wait...  _another_ way?"

"The first way's the Very Special Girl, right?" Roxy cut in. "Someone who somehow has the miraculous power to take it down."

"That's what we assume," Morgana said.

Roxy bit her lip. "How will we find someone like that? There's so many girls! Even if you assume it's a fairy, there's still hundreds!"

"That's where you come in, my daughter. You wanted to leave home and go learn. We want you to take that opportunity to travel the world, locate the fairies, and test them. See if they can break this barrier."

Roxy's jaw dropped. "I'm seventeen!" she protested.

"All expenses will be paid for by the Royal Treasury of Tir Nan Og," Nebula said, waving a hand dismissively.

Faragonda stifled a laugh, very noticeably, and Nebula cast a glare at the computer screen. "I believe what Roxy is saying is that she's below her native world's current age of majority. Perhaps an escort would be in order?"

"I could..." Morgana volunteered.

"No. I need you here," Nebula said. She laughed bitterly. "I think we all know it isn't the best idea to leave me in charge of a realm alone when I'm angry... and sister, I am  _very_ angry."

"You know, I'm good at going on adventures too," Bloom said.

Nebula and Morgana glared at her.

"Wait, hang on, so  _am_ I just going alone?" asked Roxy.

"Of course not!" Nebula said, although Roxy felt like she would probably have said yes if she could have gotten away with it. "I have just the person to escort you. She's young, she's powerful, she knows how to test fairies for power source and potential. You'll love her. In fact," said the queen as she rose from her seat, "let's go meet her now. Are there any objections to ending this meeting?"

"Just one thing," said Bloom. "If I'm not an Earth fairy, how am I trapped here with all of you?"

There was silence for a moment, murmurs from the curious Winx Club, then Faragonda cracked a smile on the computer monitor. "I would have thought it was obvious, Bloom. You're not a fairy from Earth, of course. However, you're a fairy who has made Earth her home, and that must have been enough for the barrier curse."

* * *

"Roxy, I'd like to introduce you to Lysis Ashman, fairy of biology."

Morgana gestured towards a young woman in her early twenties. The woman's long blonde hair fell in soft waves around her heart-shaped face, and though her cheeks blushed pink and warm, her dark blue eyes were slightly disconnected and cold. "Good to meet you, your royal highness" she said, nodding curtly.

"Roxy's fine. Seriously."

"If you'd like. So, Princess Morgana, I take it I'm to be the chaperone?"

Morgana nodded. "We can't think of anyone more qualified. You were one of the last fairies captured, and have lived out in the modern world before, so you're significantly less out of date. You're young and can blend in with teenagers, but you're old enough that nobody should question your legality. Twenty-five, right?"

"Twenty-three. I can't rent a car, but I think with Nebula's generous grant, we can afford to buy... oh, at  _least_ twenty new Cadillacs." Lysis cracked a small grin, and her eyes lit up a little. Roxy smiled too.  _Good, I was worried she wouldn't have a sense of humor._

Morgana cracked a smile as well. "Yes, I'm sure you'll have more than enough to get you through, and chaperone is exactly what you'll be. Princess Roxy is the leader of this expedition... your job is to support and serve her, to help her in situations where an adult is needed as an escort, and to act as a more adult voice of reason. Understood?"

"Fully, princess."

Roxy's eyes widened and she bit her lip nervously. "I can't be the leader! I mean, I barely know how to use magic, and I always get into trouble, and..."  _And I can't_ lead,  _not since I became a fairy. Since I got my wings, I've always been a follower! I followed the Winx, I followed Mom, and for good reason. They know what they're doing, what magic can do. I don't._ "And I don't know what to do," she finished lamely.

Morgana placed soft hands on her daughter's face. "Roxy, you're the only truly modern fairy we have. Lysis was among the last to be captured, and she was still imprisoned over a decade ago. Who else do we have who can work those infernal phones, who can communicate with people? Tragedies have shook this world since we've been gone. The Apprentices are not the only danger. I know you feel that you're unready to fight this magic, that you'll only end up getting yourself and Lysis hurt. But you have something nobody else does... the ability to navigate the planet Earth in the year of 2015. Nobody else has that gift."

Roxy looked away, shaking off her mother. "I still don't know if I can do it. Maybe Bloom  _would_ be better for the job. She  _did_ offer."

"She isn't one of us."

"But Faragonda said..."

The former queen cut her daughter off. "Faragonda? She knows nothing! We Earth fairies stood alone while the rest of the dimension watched us crumble, interfering only when we finally sparked their interest, when it was almost too late! Bloom may have made Earth her home, but she is not an Earth fairy."

"I'm grateful to Princess Bloom and the Winx Club for freeing us," Lysis cut in. Roxy looked at the young woman, shocked... she had almost forgotten someone else was there. It seemed impossible to do again, as Lysis stared daggers into the young princess of Tir Nan Og with her cold eyes. "However, Her Highness Princess Morgana is right. Bloom is not an Earth fairy. She lacks our tenacity, our history. Our feelings. To her, the Wizards were simply a group of villains to defeat. Competition, at best. For her, they were never truly the enemy. How could they be?"

Roxy doubted that that was correct, but couldn't work up the courage to say so to two fairies who could turn her into a dead frog with a few well-chosen words.

"I will not follow Bloom," Lysis declared sharply. "But I will follow you, Princess Roxy, with all I have."

"Just Roxy," Roxy muttered. "Seriously. Please. Just Roxy."

Morgana clapped her hands together once, powerfully. "It's settled. Roxy and Lysis, you will serve Queen Nebula by searching for the Very Special Fairy. You begin tomorrow at dawn."

_See, this is why I can't be a leader,_ Roxy sighed silently.  _Because I can't even work up the courage to say no._

* * *

Bloom walked around Gardenia aimlessly, with only one thought on her mind.  _Is Earth where I made my home?_

The magic that the Apprentices used certainly seemed to think so.

As soon as the conference had ended, Bloom had transformed into her Believix and flown up to the clouds until she'd hit the barrier. Then, she had taken out her many hours of frustration on it.

A hit with a bolt of fire.  _Thanks for ruining my grand return to Magix, barrier. I was looking forward to the freshwomen being impressed by me._

A shower of painful sparks.  _Oh, and thanks a lot for making me look like I didn't even defeat the threat. Thanks, Apprentices, for existing, even after we all assumed our work was done._

She roared, and the Great Dragon released itself from her form and spiraled into the barrier, causing fire to explode all around her.  _And thanks a lot, Earth fairies, for spying on me, learning that I'm smart as well as powerful, and then_ still  _choosing to force me to sit this fight out. Thanks a whole, dragon-loving lot._

After an hour with no results, she had come back down to Earth, even more frustrated and even more worn out than she had been before.

Bloom Peters was not an Earth fairy. A history, no matter how spotty, and a title kept her soundly tethered to the kingdom of Domino. Once this kingdom had been freed from its own imprisonment, she had embraced that life wholeheartedly, determined to make up all the time she'd lost on what she couldn't help feel was her own accord (some logical part of her made note that at the Fall of Domino, she was a  _toddler_ , but that logic did not make its way into her heart).

Sure, so maybe embracing the magical culture of her new home had meant neglecting Earth a little, but she  _had_ come back to save her adoptive home from the threat of the Wizards. Because nobody else could, because she felt empathy for a world trapped in a similar manner as her own had been.

That didn't mean it was still her home. Not one bit.

She kicked a stone lying on the sidewalk, and watched it bounce a good three times before hitting someone in the ankle. "Ow!" said a high, youthful voice.

The fairy looked up to see a young girl, fourteen at the oldest, with dark hair that draped over her face as though she tried to hide from the world. Her dark purple hoodie only added to the image. In her hands, she held an occupied flowerpot, almost reverently.

Bloom's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't paying attention and..."

"It's fine, Bloom," said the girl, and for a moment Bloom wondered how they knew each other (didn't Flora have a sister or something?), but then she remembered that she had been on television almost every day since returning to Earth. "I didn't mean to get in your way." Then, the girl winced. "Ow."

"Let me see your foot," Bloom said, crouching. "I can probably make it better."

"No need, I heal quick," said the girl happily. "It'll be good in an hour."

"Let me see it," the redhead ordered again. "It's the least I can do. What's your name?"

The girl frowned. "I'm Macy Silverman, remember? My dad was your doctor? Mitzi's my big sister?"

"Oh. Yeah." Bloom tried not to curse. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Let me see it."

Macy frowned but pulled on the leg of her jeans until it showed a shallow cut on her ankle. "It's nothing, and it'll be gone, soon," she said.

"Just let me do it. Dragon knows I need to do  _something._ " Not necessarily this, but she was getting restless. She had to do something, something to prove to herself and the Earth fairies that  _she_ was the one to solve this crisis. Her logical mind noted that healing a little girl that she injured wasn't necessarily going to do anything, but yet again her emotions got in the way.

"Oh look, it's healing," Macy said amiably.

_Of course it is, I'm using my magic,_  thought Bloom, but no sooner were the words thought than she realized... no, she wasn't.

Macy's injury closed, leaving behind minimal spots of blood around it. "I'll clean that when I get to the garden," said the young teen. "Nice seeing you Bloom! Have a good day!"

As Macy walked away, Bloom stood and gaped.

* * *

Dawn came, and once again, fairies gathered for a brief conference. Lysis made an addition to the original group, and seemed to fit right in. At least, Roxy thought, Lysis fit in better than she did.

"We'll be visiting each known fairy and testing them. At most, with the current amount and distribution of magic users, we're looking at a three month trip. This is subject to change, of course. We'll keep in touch when we can."

Roxy grinned. This was where she came in, not that anyone else knew it. "Which is... get this, all the time. Ladies, let me introduce you to your new phones." One by one, she handed out a shiny new iPhone to each fairy.

"I have a phone," Bloom protested. She looked a little off, kind of deep in thought, Roxy noted.

"Which is made to be used in the Magic Dimension. You complained about roaming charges just last week," Roxy said calmly. "Besides, I set everyone up with their own special Skype account so we can talk and even see each other! It's perfect. Maybe not magic technology, but as close as we're gonna get when we're blocked off from the rest of the universe."

Morgana and Nebula examined their phones warily. "Bloom'll help you learn how to use them, guys," Roxy said, guessing the problem. "Besides, it's instinctive. No worries. And the royal treasury is set up to automatically pay the bills, so go crazy!"

Nebula narrowed her eyes, then sighed. "Well, we  _are_ trying to get with the times. I guess."

"All phones have all the others in both phone contacts and Skype contacts, so it's easy to reach anyone at a moment's notice! Isn't that great? We barely have to miss each other."  _I barely have to miss you._

With a smile, Morgana hugged her daughter. "You're gonna be great," she whispered. "Now, isn't it time to get going?"

"Yeah, I guess." Roxy's voice was muffled, and she pulled back. "I'll call you when we're on the highway, okay?"

"Please do. Bloom will help me answer, right?" Morgana looked pleadingly, and the redheaded princess nodded, vaguely amused.

"Alright, then," Lysis said with a smile. "We'll be off then. Also... ADULT GETS TO DRIVE!" she yelled, racing for the driver's seat.

Roxy narrowed her eyes. "PRINCESS PICKS THE MUSIC!" She opened the passenger's seat door and slid in. Within seconds, the radio was blaring.  _"And I SLEPT in last night's CLOTHES and tomorrow's DREAMS but they're not quite WHAT THEY SEE-EEM!"_ she sang loudly.

"Can't you at least pick good music?" groaned Lysis as she got into the car.

"This  _is_ good music!"

 


	3. Anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A side quest distracts Roxy and Lysis from their main goal... or perhaps it leads them towards it.

"So, Lysis," mused Roxy, sarcasm creeping into her high voice as they left the house of Marcella, the fairy of dolls, "What exactly is the definition of a girl, anyway, and does a woman who  _looks_ just about as old as she actually  _is_ still qualify?"

"You  _know_ fairies look exactly the age they want to look," answered an annoyed Lysis. "I mean, your mother looks fifty and your aunt looks younger than  _me_ at times, and we all know they're both almost a whole millennium old. Faragonda looks, what, seventy? And she's only one hundred and twenty-five. Marcella's actually one of the younger ones, so keep your comments to yourself. A so called 'girl' could be anyone."

"How come I can't just make myself look like an adult, then?" Roxy asked, smirking as she pointed out a loophole in her Aunt Nebula's reasoning.

It wasn't that she didn't like Lysis. It was just that Lysis was six years older, had a deadpan sense of humor that was almost indistinguishable from her normal serious demeanor, and had been the youngest fairy trapped in Tir Nan Og... since she was eleven. The thought of living that long without hard rock, pop culture, and similarly aged friends made Roxy shiver in disgust every time.

Lysis sighed, sounding slightly discouraged. "You could, if you used a glamour, but that would mean you'd have less power to do other things with, so in situations where you need magic at all times... such as, oh, the emergence of evil wizards bent on imprisoning us... you can't trust them."

"So you're saying my mom and aunt  _don't_ just walk around with glamours?"

"No! It's a secondary ability that allows a fairy's body to revert to any age they've already been, and..."

Lysis was cut off by her phone ringing. With a glare at Roxy, one that said  _you really should know all of this,_ she answered with the tap of the screen. "Hello?"

There was a long silence, then, "Oh, yes, your majesty. You do, however, realize that this will get us off our course? Oh, I see. Well, I'm not sure we're the most qualified to remedy the situation, but we'll do our very best. Yes, my queen. Of course. Goodbye." Another tap, and she had hung up.

"Who was that?" asked Roxy.

Lysis raised her eyebrows. "It was Queen Nebula," she said, again using the  _was that not obvious enough for you_ expression. "She has a side mission for us, and I hope you don't mind, milady, but I accepted."

"Will you  _please_ just call me Roxy?"

"She wants us to shut down some meddling humans," continued the fairy of biology as though her younger charge hadn't said a word. "People messing in magic they don't understand."

"Whoa," Roxy protested, holding up her hands. "We're really not, like, police or anything! Can we really do this?"

"I wondered the same thing, but the Queen said that you should just order them to cease and desist under your royal title as the Princess of Tir Nan Og. If that doesn't work, we can call in a greater force. She doesn't want us to feel like we have to take these people down alone, but if we can, we're supposed to. And by 'if we can,' she means without violence. We may have to act as ambassadors from Tir Nan Og at some point on this trip, let's not give the humans a bad impression if we can help it."

"So why can't she send someone else out to begin with?" Roxy said. She crossed her arms over her chest and slouched down in her seat. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Everyone else is busy with various tasks, queendom essential or special duties given due to the barrier. We're the only ones who are available to take care of this. Besides, the perpetrator is in Heatherdale, and we're only half an hour or so off."

"And we can't say no?"

"Not to Queen Nebula. I can't believe you're even considering it, Prin... Roxy."

Roxy bit her lip and rolled her eyes. At least Lysis was trying. "Fine. But I hope it doesn't take too long, and if someone tries to hurt me, I won't just wait around for anyone... I'll fight back."

* * *

They had started checking each fairy based on proximity to Gardenia, so the small college town of Heatherdale was only a few hours drive from Roxy's home town. Despite that, she had never been and had never had any reason to. The town, and its big name university, went to the larger cities for shopping and entertainment, not the other way around, after all. And with less than a half day's drive to the magical city of Gardenia, and only an hour to Los Angeles, it was a perfect place for affluent scholars and their families to settle.

* * *

That was something sixteen year old tenth grader Safeyah Hafeij knew all too well. She may have only lived in Heatherdale... or California... or the entire United States of America... for less than a full year, but she had the stereotypes down. Private school teens who grew into Ivy League twenties, parents who breathed in books like air, and nice, identical houses lining suburban streets. It was the kind of community that gave birth to a strange form of irony: Saf's nearly flawless estuary accent made her seem more of a part of this community than all the American scholars. "It just makes you sound so  _smart,_ " one of her classmates had explained with a jealous sigh a week after Saf started at St. Kinnia's Academy.

Sometimes, though, she didn't feel so smart. "I don't know what Dad's doing lately," she confessed to her American best friend Avi Masterson. "I understand that studying... well, evolves, I suppose, and that new methods are found, but he's pouring hours and hours into prodding artifacts, moving them around, organizing them. Sometimes he gets frustrated and goes back to his books, and whenever I try to ask if he wants help, he mutters things in Arabic and shoos me away."

Avi pulled her mounds of wild brown curls into a ponytail and shooed stray bangs from her forehead as she spoke. "So? I mean, I know you're weird about this cause you were tricked into believing that school's actually fun and stuff, but just let him be for a bit. I mean, so what if he doesn't want your help? He's a grownup. Practically a grandpa, what is he, fifty? Sometimes parents are just effing weird about what they want you to know."

Saf made a face, and Avi smirked, as much as someone could smirk in a loving way. "You're taking my advice quite reasonably," she said slyly, cracking her knuckles, then shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

"Quite?" Saf asked, with a roll of her eyes. There had been an incident months earlier involving the differing usages of the word "quite" in British and American English. Avi had latched onto it, and since then it was always a challenge trying to figure out which definition she meant.

Avi gave no hint, merely sticking out her tongue for a second, then continuing. "So, are you going to forget about that and come hang out at the garage with me, or are you going to try to break your old dad again?"

"You won't visit us then?" Saf asked. "We got in some of those biscuits from home that you like."

Indecision played in the girl's dark eyes for a moment, then she shook her head. "I promised my uncle I'd help him out in the shop today. Sorry."

"Ugh! I'll probably do my homework, _then_  bother him a bit."

"Speaking of, here's where we part ways, then," Avi noted as they came to a crossroads. She turned to cross to the other side of the street, while Saf set off straight forward. "I'll see you tomorrow at school!"

"Later!" Saf called back, as cheerily as she could muster.

The rest of her walk home was near-silent and uneventful, the peace broken only by the occasional sound of birds chirping or a dog barking.

* * *

Lysis pulled into an Arby's parking lot right after the first Heatherdale exit. "Hungry?" she asked Roxy, her face unreadable. "It's on me."

"It's the royal family's money!" Roxy said indignantly. "And I'm part of the royal family... if anything, it's on me!"

"Relax, I was making a joke," Lysis said, her face as straight as ever.

"Omigosh! That's no way to joke!" said a high, muffled voice.

"Yeah!" Roxy agreed, then blinked. She looked at Lysis, whose hands were on her forehead in an expression of pure exasperation. "Who was that?" asked the princess of Tir Nan Og.

Lysis sighed. "Epunine, didn't I explicitly  _tell_ you to stay at home?"

From the backseat of their car, something flew out. It looked like a fairy, though proportioned like an anime character, and quite a bit smaller. The being's skin and hair were dark, and its clothes had a look of pure casualness... not the feigned fashionable casualness, either, but a red tank top and purple sweatpants that made even the being's messy ponytail look too thought out. "There weren't enough curse words for it to be explicit, Lysis!" it said.

Lysis rolled her eyes. "This," she said to Roxy, "is my pixie, Epunine. Very fitting, as she's the pixie of wordplay. We bonded back when I was about your age, when we were trapped in Tir Nan Og, so we've never had to go anywhere without one another... but this mission was too dangerous for a pixie, so I asked her to stay home."

Epunine pouted. "But no way was I going to! You need me, Lysis! Who else will balance you out? Who else will help you when spaces get tight? Who else will help make sure you have an actual sense of humor?"

Lysis glared at the pixie, and the pixie gave a little guilty grin.

"I remember about pixies!" Roxy exclaimed. "The Winx Club told me about them. Pixies and fairies bond when they're meant to be like sisters, right?"

Epunine nodded her tiny head enthusiastically, but Lysis frowned and put a finger on her chin. "That's extremely simplified. Pixies are more than that. There's two main legends that, while of course fictionalizing a lot, do explain it pretty well. The early fairies believed that pixies were born every time a fairy  _expressed the desire_  to improve herself, and that the two would bond when the fairy was  _ready_  to improve herself."

"That's really uplifting!" Roxy said, leaning towards her chaperone enthusiastically.

"And the other legend, most likely spread after Christianity threatened fairies and many actually converted, is that fairies are soulless creatures, and God created pixies to be our souls so we wouldn't go to hell," Lysis finished with a smile.

Roxy felt her face drop. "Oh."

Epunine giggled. "Pixies and fairies bond when they both have something the other needs. I needed a little bit of intelligence in my jokes. Lysis needed a sense of humor. It's a perfect match!"

"That's actually really cool!" Roxy said.

"There's a lot of lore on pixies. I have a book on it if you're interested. Did you know that the idea of having a small angel and devil on your shoulder started with two of these remarkab-"

Epunine yawned. "Come on, Lysis, your history lectures make me sleepy. Aren't you supposed to be a science fairy anyway?"

"The best scientific discoveries can start with legends!" the blonde fairy argued.

With a grin, Epunine flew around the car. "Let's drop the boring stuff and get to work."

"Work isn't boring to you?" Roxy asked. A pixie of humor and fun didn't seem like the kind of person who would enjoy serious missions. Roxy sure wasn't, after all, and she felt a lot more qualified than the tiny being flittering around.

"No way! Not when you get to adventure and learn! The more you know, the better jokes you can make, right!"

"But you just cut off Lysis..."

"Lysis likes lectures. I'm much more hands-on. So, who's gonna brief me?"

Epunine perched on her bonded fairy's shoulder, but Lysis shooed her away. "You aren't being briefed at all!" she said, her voice annoyed. "This mission is too dangerous! You're too young and small, Punny."

"I'm also young and small," said Roxy.

She meant it in hopes that she could get out of the upcoming mission, but Lysis paused. When she spoke again, it seemed as though she had taken Roxy's words to heart, in the exact wrong way. "Fine. You can stay." Lysis held her phone out so both pixie and fairy could see, and Epunine and Roxy leaned over to see.

Roxy frowned. She didn't know what language the document on the screen was written in, but "Treoracha le haghaidh mhisean" certainly wasn't English. "What's it say?"

"Oh? You don't read Irish?" Lysis said it in an almost demeaning tone, then shook her head as though remembering something. "Right. You didn't grow up in Tir Nan Og. Um." She muttered a quick spell under her breath, and the letters on the cell phone changed: "misio instrukcioj."

"I can't read that either," said the pink-haired girl dryly.

"Please don't tell me you're monolingual." Lysis pursed her lips and closed her eyes in obvious exasperation.

"What if I am?"

"Then I need to insist that your aunt find you a better governess, one fitting of a princess. Your former one apparently isn't up to snuff"

Roxy couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "Lysis. You weren't locked in Tir Nan Og until you were eleven... you should figure I went to public school."

"You're a princess!"

"I just learned that two months ago!"

Lysis sighed. "Fair enough. Alright, so the mission instructions are to locate a relic known very simply as the Gem of Arcelia. Though to the fairy public, the relic is simply a portable monument to fairies killed and not simply captured by the Wizards, we've been given clearance to know the truth. The Gem is an experimental and  _nonfunctional_  device that is said to lock and later release the essence of a fairy."

Epunine and Roxy exchanged glances. "What?" the asked in unison.

"Apparently, if the device worked... which it doesn't... it would have been the perfect hiding place. Fairies could have enclosed themselves in these gems and been virtually undetectable, saving themselves from the Wizards. However, the first experiments, ran by a fairy named Arcelia, failed. A fairy could enter the gem... but they never managed to pop out again. Only four of these experiments were done before then-Queen Morgana shut them down, and all but one have been destroyed."

"But if they didn't work," Roxy asked, "then why is this still a secret?"

"Because while we know that the Gem does not work as we intended, we don't quite know if it's harmless. That this artifact is in the hands of a human might mean the release of an incredible power... or perhaps, that with only a human to guard it, the Apprentices can acquire it that much easier. Obtaining it is vital. No matter what."

Roxy frowned. Before, it had sounded like this was a simple, compassionate mission... stop a human from endangering themselves. Now, it seemed to be a simple fetch quest that may or may not involve robbery. "But we can call in backup."

"If we need it. But why would we?" Lysis shut her phone's screen off and slipped the device into her pocket. "After all, it's only humans. There's a reason they tell non-magical beings that fairies are dangerous."

* * *

Saf had barely finished her homework when the doorbell rang. She set her books down and scurried down the soft wooden stairs to the front door, opening it without a second thought. "Hafeij residence?" she stated as she took in the two young women who stood on her doorstep.

One was smiling coldly... a blonde in a nice black blouse and white pants. Slightly behind her was a younger girl with pink hair and a Hot Topic wardrobe, looking slightly uncomfortable. The blonde woman was the one who spoke. "Hello. We're here to appraise a situation that's come up?"

Saf blinked. Appraisal? Was her father selling his artifacts? Maybe that was why he had been so irritable. "Of course," she murmured. "Um, my father is downstairs. Please follow me."

She let them in, and then began to lead them As she walked to the basement door, she heard the pink one mutter "I didn't think there'd be someone my age here! Lysis..."

"Oh, hush," said the blonde, quietly.

As they trampled down the stairs to the basement, Saf saw her father look up. "Safeyah!" he exclaimed, his accent thick and nothing at all like his daughter's obvious British, "you have more friends!"

Saf smiled. "Dad, these are the appraisers you've called for. I decided to bring them down for you."

Mr. Hafeij frowned. "What?" he questioned.

The blonde woman stepped forward, all while taking slow looks around the large basement. Saf didn't question why; the walls were covered in things that had "magical" and mythological heritage, things that her father had picked up for his research as an independent anthropologist. It was an impressive display, particularly to one who might want to purchase any of the many items. "This is the residence of Yusuf Hafeij?"

Mr. Hafeij nodded confirmation.

"Sir," said the blonde woman, "I insist you show me to the Gem of Arcelia. I don't see it here among your..." Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "...parlor tricks."

"The Gem of what?"

"Lysis, I think we might have gotten the wrong house," said the pink-haired girl.

Lysis shook her head. "No, this completely fits the description. He doesn't even realize what he has. Sir," she said, turning back to Saf's dad, "I need you to show me any gemstones you have."

"What?" said Mr. Hafeij. Saf could hear the panic in his voice, and the teenager herself balled her hands into fists.  _Sorry, Dad. I didn't know... I didn't know that these people..._

"Sir! Under the authority of the queen of Tir Nan Og, and my own power as the escort of its princess, I demand you hand over the Gem!"

"I don't have a Gem!" he said again.

Lysis turned to her partner. "Princess Roxy, I need you to give the order. Failing that, we'll contact the royal guard."

"The Royal Guard?" Saf squealed, unable to help herself. Neither guest responded.  _Princesses, royalty... a Gem. What are these people? Obviously not normal thieves. What do they want? Gemstones? My mother left me plenty, but I don't want to part with them._

_But what will happen to my father and me if I can't give them what they want?_

The blonde stared at Saf coldly, as though she were not pleased at the interruption. She opened her mouth to say something, but Saf beat her to it. "I have tons of gems! Please, let me show you. Maybe one will... maybe one of mine will be okay."

"We'll see," said Lysis, but she relaxed slightly.

Again, Saf led the visitors through the house. She noticed that the pink haired one... a princess?... had grown oddly silent and almost morose, as though she did not agree with what was happening. As she opened the door to her bedroom on the second floor, she hoped her father had the composure and the thought to contact the police.

She retrieved her jewelry box off its shelf and thrust it into Lysis's hands. "Here. Take what you want and leave," she said. "I can't promise they're what you want, but they are what we have."

Easily, Lysis plucked a necklace from the bunch. "Nice try at playing innocent, little human," she said. "You had it all along. This could have been much easier if you'd cooperated from the beginning."

_I did! As much as I could, at least. What, did they expect we'd be knowing, willing, and ready to hand it over?_

_Probably, come to think of it._

"The Gem of Arcelia." Lysis frowned. "But... it has no power. No life force at all."

"Maybe the fairy in it died?" the princess suggested. "You said yourself that nobody knows what could happen to it."

"Fairies can live centuries. It's not... I bet that man did something. I bet he knows."

"Lysis... maybe we should call for..."

"No, we've completed our mission, Pr- Roxy. This is my personal curiosity.  _Something_ happened to the Gem and I will do  _anything_  to that man to get him to tell me what it is!"

_Anything._ The word hit Saf like a sack of bricks. The two thieves seemed to have forgotten... or stopped caring... that she was there. Now, they spoke of doing  _anything_ to her father. Interrogation. Torture. Maybe murder.

Her hands balled tight into fists again, and her breath grew heavy. As her nails bit into her palms, she looked down.

Saf hadn't previously been aware that anger glowed blue and yellow as it hovered around her hands.

Then, the glow exploded. All at once, she was surrounded by light. Her back ached momentarily, then the pain ceased and the glow faded.

She found herself hovering six inches above the ground in an outfit that befit an Egyptian goddess.

_Or a fairy,_ she thought as she looked behind her to see a pair of scarab-like wings fluttering.

Safeyah looked back to the intruders and smiled, and it was a grim, powerful sight. "No. You're not doing  _anything_ to my father... not unless you can get through me!"


	4. Useless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bloom finds herself feeling more unnecessary than ever.

Even before she knew she was a fairy, Bloom Peters had always known she didn't want an office job. That was what made her new position as Modernity Advisor to the Queen of Tir Nan Og so infuriating.

Or at least, that was what the fairy told herself. She would lie all day if it meant she'd stop craving the spotlight, the adventure.

On the bright side, her office was not bad. Nebula had given her free reign to renovate an old tower to her liking. The tower had six stories, each its own room. The first floor was a beautiful observatory, not good for much of anything on the mission, but still a good place to watch the stars shine from the other side of the dome.

Since the queen insisted Bloom stay as close as possible, the next floor down became a bedroom and a makeshift bathroom hidden by curtains. Underneath was her kitchen and living space; though she had a permanent invitation to attend meals in the Great Hall with the rest of the court, she didn't particularly like to.

The apartment was okay. The two floors under it, however… they were her favorite, though she'd never admit that to anyone. The labs that she was given were beautiful, and the fact that she had labs and even magical scientists working directly under her… that was a thrill. When she was little, she had alternated between wanting to be a scientist and a fairy princess. What a dream come true to be both!

The first lab was a computer lab. Some of the computers were designated free use. Many were for specific coding projects… altering software to be magic-compatible, which was slow going since not many of the Terrestrial Fairies had been on Earth when programming was invented. One single computer was always connected to various chat clients, monitored 24/7 by the very least tech savvy of Bloom's workers, just in case Roxy or Lysis needed to contact someone quick.

Under that was a more traditional lab. For now, it was vacant. Bloom hoped that in time, some sort of traceable magic would be analyzed there, something that could lead to a breakthrough.

The very last room, on the ground floor, was Bloom's office. With her own computer, oodles of office supplies, and a couple personal assistants (aka, people who proved to be more harm than help to the delicate machinery upstairs), the thing you were least likely to find in there was Bloom herself.

* * *

On the day that her idea of magic changed forever, Bloom was in the computer lab, on video call with Tecna.

"I feel like the methods of communication we have with Roxy are flawed," said the redhead as she bit her lip nervously. "Even if she has the  _means_ to send messages in real time, she may not always have the  _ability._ "

"You mean, she might be in some sort of immediate danger that you could help with, but you wouldn't know about the danger until it was safe for her to contact you," Tecna replied.

"Exactly," Bloom said. "Isn't there something we could do about that?"

"Body cams that stream what she sees onto one of your computers? You already have someone monitoring certain things at all times; would one more hurt?"

Bloom shook her head. "I doubt it. Nebula's given me so many people that I've had to regulate some of them to guarding the fridge so that nobody steals anyone else's lunch."

"Has that happened?"

"No, but I'm not sure if it's because it isn't going to happen, or because I have legitimate fridge guards."

Tecna laughed, and Bloom couldn't help but smile at the sound. It'd been two weeks since she had been around someone who seemed to be able to have fun working. "So in other words, that idea's a go?" Tecna asked between giggles.

"Yeah! Thanks for the help!" Bloom felt a little twinge in her heart, and added, "I really should have thought of that myself."

She should have. It was an obvious solution. One didn't need a fairy of technology to think of something like that. It only proved what she had suspected. Bloom smiled a sad smile. "You know," she said, "I really am useless without you guys."

Tecna wasn't looking at the camera; Bloom could hear Stella yelling something in the background. "Oh, Bloom, we miss you too," said the other woman. "Uh, I think I should go check on…"

"Yeah," Bloom agreed. "Talk to you soon. Give my love to the Winx."

"Yeah, later," said Tecna, and she ended the call.

_I really am useless without them. I can't believe I never realized that before._

* * *

Roxy didn't know Lysis could curse so much.

After a flood of words that Morgana would not have wanted said around her daughter, Lysis finally seemed to snap into gear. "Roxy! Transform!" she ordered, and the princess was too caught off guard to even argue that she was the leader.

Two flashes of light glowed beside each other, one green and one teal. After only moments, they emerged, full-fledged fairies.

Roxy glanced at Lysis's fairy form. The outfit was a long-sleeved blue shirt under a teal single piece dress, slouching off the shoulder with an asymmetrical hem. Heeled sandals adorned her feet, and her thick, wavy blonde hair was in two long ponytails. The wings on her back were not unique, as Roxy's were, but the same generic wings that were found on most of the Earth fairies. It was a pretty look for her, the princess decided, but devoid of much personality.

Lysis raised her hands up, and magic gathered. "Amorphous Blast!" she yelled, and the energy she held became solid, irregular shards that flew at the other fairy. The girl cried out, crossing her arms over her face as if to shield it.

"Lysis! Stop! We weren't supposed to fight, remember?" Roxy cried.

The older fairy didn't cease. "Not supposed to fight humans… and this girl isn't a human!"

"Stop!" Roxy tried again. "I, uh, I order it!"

"As your advisor and adult voice of reason, I feel like I need to argue. This girl is dangerous!"

"She's not the one attacking right now!"

Lysis did not respond.

Roxy bit her lip and flew in front of the girl, dodging shards of magic as she went. "Enchanted Cloak!" she yelled, surrounding herself and the girl in a green barrier.

Lysis stopped.

Roxy took a breath of relief and turned to the other girl. "Are you okay?" The girl shook her head. "Are you, uh, going to hurt me?" Again, a shake of the head. "Are you going to hurt  _Lysis?_ "

Finally, the lovely girl spoke. "If she dares threaten my father or attack me? Then yes. Yes I will. Once I uh. Figure out how to do it."

She looked at her hands, and Roxy saw a faint, nonthreatening, glow of power around them. The princess suppressed a laugh. She'd known kind of what to do when she first transformed, but mainly only because she had been around the Winx. It made sense that someone who hadn't would be lost. "What's your name again?" Roxy asked.

"Safeyah. Saf. Saf Hafeij."

"Saf," Roxy repeated. "Hey, Lysis! Saf's not gonna hurt us if you don't hurt her or her family, and as your princess and leader of this expedition, I order you to cease."

Lysis pursed her lips. "Yes,  _princess,"_  she said.

"And also you should probably apologize."

Lysis narrowed her eyes, but complied. "All apologies, Ms. Hafeij."

"Is it cool if I let us out of this barrier now?"

"There is one thing you should consider," Lysis said. "We can't leave a fairy here, not when we have no idea who she is or how she got here. What realm is she from and how come she hasn't tried to return home? She's not any Earth fairy I've ever seen, and so she should have no problem leaving." Lysis turned to Saf. "Where exactly are you from, anyway?"

"Originally? Or recently?"

"Originally."

"Egypt."

Lysis blinked slowly, and Roxy could see anger making its way back onto her face. Quickly, the princess cut in. "What if she's a new Earth fairy, like me? One no one knew about?"

"Weren't you supposed to be the  _last fairy on Earth?_ As in, there are no more after you? I don't expect a change in that designation until someone has a child, and with the quality of these human men, I don't think that will happen anytime soon."

"So then she's like Bloom and was sent here from somewhere else," Roxy said reasonably. "We aren't going to just kick her off the planet to some new world she's never seen, right?"

Saf shuddered visibly at the thought.

"No, of course not. In fact, I think the queen would insist she'd stay… we should get her to Tir Nan Og."

Roxy nodded, but Saf blinked. "Excuse me? I don't have any intention to go anywhere with you!"

Lysis glared at the girl. "I'm sure you don't. However, all fairies on Earth, whether Earthborn or not, are under the authority of Queen Nebula, Princess Roxy, and their warriors. As you are a fairy and I am charged with the protection of my princess, who your foolish antics have endangered, you are subject to be detained. Am I correct, princess?"

"While I don't like the way she worded it, we do need you to come with us," Roxy agreed. "See, we're looking for someone, and you kind of fit the bill."

"What?" Lysis snapped.

Roxy raised an eyebrow and finally let the shield evaporate. As she did, she transformed back into her normal clothes. "Lysis, we came here to see a girl we thought was perfectly normal transform! That's not normal. That's special. And we're looking for a Very Special Fairy."

Lysis's eyes widened. "We are."

Roxy turned back to Saf. "Listen, we'll explain everything once we get to Gardenia, but we need you to come with us. We promise nobody in your family will get hurt."

"And if I say no?" Saf asked stubbornly.

"Unfortunately, then I have to call my aunt. She doesn't like to make promises where nobody gets hurt." Roxy almost winced; the statement had come out much more harshly than she had intended.

"What will my dad say? I can't just leave."

"We'll explain."

"How?"

* * *

"So, Mr. Hafeij," Lysis said in her most adult voice, "Your daughter is under arrest for possession of dangerous artifacts, threat to an officer, and resisting arrest."

Mr. Hafeij looked heartbroken. "B-b-but Safeyah… she is such a good girl… you must be mistaken…"

"I'm sure she is," said the blonde fairy gravely, "but it isn't in my power to release her from custody. May I suggest you contact Officer Bloom Peters? She has more power to help than I do."

Mr. Hafeij muttered something in Arabic, but took the piece of paper with Bloom's number that was being held out to him.

"Have a good day, sir. I hope this all gets worked out quickly."

With a small curtsey, Lysis backed out the door and walked to the car, where Saf, Epunine, and Roxy were waiting. She slipped in and sighed loudly. "I did  _not_ think that was going to work."

"I have no clue how you managed to do it even after scaring the heck out of him earlier," Roxy said.

"I told him it was an undercover operation and I still wasn't cleared to talk much about it."

"I can't believe he bought it." Roxy shook her head in disbelief.

"I can," Saf piped up. "He's a little gullible."

Lysis sneered. "Obviously. Did you see that fake magic he had? How could anyone believe in its authenticity? I can't believe he even managed to pick something out that was  _real._ And then to give it to his teenage daughter?"

"He didn't," Saf said. "It was my mother's. She left it for me."

"That explains how he could tell a magical artifact from his left shoe, but still not how a human had a magical artifact." Lysis shrugged and started the car. "I guess we may never know, though."

* * *

Bloom was about to call for Lysis and Roxy to come back to Gardenia when they called her to tell her that they were, conveniently, already on their way. The surprise came when they said they had another fairy in tow.

"We're not sure where she came from or what her power is. We're hoping you can help us find out."

"Me?"

"Well," said Roxy over the phone, "you're the one with the big fancy lab, and between being a major player in both your experience and my experience, I'd say you're the leading authority on fairies that shouldn't exist."

"I guess," Bloom said nervously. "I don't think that subject really has any authorities, but yeah, I probably am the closest there is."

"We'll be there in like fifteen minutes. Think you can have the lab ready?"

"No, but I'll try."

"Good enough. See you then."

"Yeah," Bloom said.

* * *

The car parked in front of the Tir Nan Og palace and the three fairies (and one pixie) got out. "Home sweet home," Lysis said with relish. "I've missed this place, and it's only been a week."

"This is where you live?" Saf asked, sounding breathless. Her eyes were shining with awe.

Lysis grinned. It was the first time Roxy had seen her so happy. "Of course. I'm a fairy born of the court of Tir Nan Og. I was born to stick close to the royal family and to serve them. Even when my service takes me far away…" Lysis glanced at Roxy. "…I always love to come back home."

"It's beautiful."

"That we can all agree on," Epunine said with a nod.

The sound of a revving engine interrupted the moment, and the four looked towards it. Coming towards them quickly was a red antique car. "What?" Lysis said. "Who in the world…"

"Oh no, oh  _no,_ " groaned Saf.

The car skidded next to them, barely avoiding driving over their toes. Lysis and Roxy couldn't help a nervous jump backwards. Safeyah bit her lip.  _I should have expected this would happen._

As the car stopped, a tall girl in a racing outfit stepped out. She took off her helmet to reveal the one person that Saf wasn't sure if she most wanted to see, or least wanted to see.

"Surprise, bitches… and Saf," said Avi. "I'm here to rescue my best friend and  _mess stuff up._ "

 


	5. Metal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are freely given to the very lost Saf and Avi.

"Avi!" Safeyah exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I just told you! I'm rescuing you and messing stuff up!" Avi said the words too cheerfully to be even vaguely threatening. She shook out her dark, curly hair and grinned. "Which one of these ladies do I need to punch first?"

"Avi, it isn't what you think," Saf protested, but she couldn't help but laugh. "How did you find me here, anyway?"

Avi's cheeks puffed out indignantly. "Well, I thought about how you said you got some of your weird British cookies. And I mean. I  _really_ like those cookies. So I drove to your house as soon as I was done with my shift at the shop, and I saw you getting into a car with these weird women. 'Okay,' I thought, 'I'll go ask your dad for some cookies and wait for her.' But then he said you'd been arrested! You think I'd believe that? So I got right back in the car and followed you, cause like, I saw your kidnappers, and they were definitely not policepeople." Avi looked Lysis and Roxy up and down. "They don't look hard to beat up."

"We must have been a few miles away though… how'd you know what road to take?" asked Saf.

"It was obvious," Avi said with a frown.

The comment was a little odd to Roxy, but she let it pass. "We're not kidnapping her. We've just got some questions."

"That you couldn't ask her at home? Yeah, sure."

"They aren't lying," Saf defended. "Some weird stuff happened and…"

"Well then!" interrupted the dark-haired teen, "I'll come with you just to make sure everything is good, and then I'll drive you home."

Lysis frowned, and for a moment, Roxy thought she was going to argue. However, she sighed. "That sounds like a good idea, provided that Safeyah is willing to trust this young woman… who is…"

"Avalon Masterson, but call me Avalon and I'll hit you," said Avi cheerfully. "Just shorten it any old way. Avi's the popular one."

Saf nodded to Lysis. "I trust her. She's my best friend. She only wants to protect me."

"Very well. Follow me."

Leaving the two cars, the group of five walked towards the front of the ancient castle. The gates opened for them as easily as an automatic door might, and Safeyah wasn't sure if that was magic, technology, or an unseen guard.

The castle gates led into a large courtyard. Obviously waiting for them there was a woman in her twenties, with red hair pulled into a messy ponytail, a NASA tee shirt, and faded blue jeans. She held her phone out in a way that seemed to say "look at it!" "Roxy, Lysis," she greeted the two fairies. "You could have told me someone was going to call me under the impression that I was a police chief."

"We could have," said Roxy, "but it was funnier that we didn't. What did you tell Mr. Hafeij?"

"I tried not to get him too riled up, but some of the truth  _you two_ refuse to tell came out. Magic isn't a matter to mess with, you two know that. You shouldn't have omitted it from your explanation."

"So you told him that his daughter had a dangerous artifact, and that she suddenly had magic powers?"

Avi looked to Saf. Saf looked away and blushed, wondering how to explain. She concentrated intensely on the redheaded woman, hoping Avi wouldn't pry for a little bit.

The woman frowned. "No," she admitted. "I told him she was still in processing, and her bail would be rather high. He asked if she needed a lawyer, too, so I told him we were getting one for her and that nobody actually believed she did it and we're going to take good care of her and  _please_  do not suck me into these lies next time."

Roxy smirked, then grew solemn. "Bloom, you're a mess."

The redhead… Bloom… turned sour. "Most of my clothes were in Magix. I'm left with my high school wardrobe. It's either that, or I walk around in my Believix all day, and my wings knocked over a couple computers last time I did that."

"I actually like the look on you. I was more referring to the run on sentences and hint of desperation."

Bloom sighed. "It's been a long day."

"Anyway, to business," Lysis interrupted. "This is Saf Hafeij and her friend Avi Masterson. Saf previously possessed the Gem of Arcelia, which she claims to have inherited. She also exhibited powerful fairy magic. Avi, on the other hand, just… showed up."

Bloom nodded greeting to them. "Nice to meet you guys. I've got some tests set up in my lab for you, Saf; nothing too big, for now, just a couple little things. Follow me."

She walked them across the courtyard to a large tower. As she held the door open, they were faced with what seemed to be a metal detector. "Please be absolutely silent until I tell you otherwise and go through one at a time with a ten-second space between each person," Bloom requested.

Avi frowned. "Why?"

"You'll see," Bloom said with a smile. "Just don't say anything more for a little."

Roxy went through first. The machine beeped loudly. Bloom nodded approval.

Then went Lysis. As she entered, the machine beeped as well, but the noise was not quite as loud or as long.

"Saf? Would you like to go through?" Bloom asked.

Saf gulped and started through. It didn't seem to be a metal detector after all; nobody was frantically searching Lysis and Roxy, trying to find out what they were hiding. What the machine was, then, she didn't know.

As she passed through it, the machine let out a quiet, but definite, beeping sound. Roxy and Lysis looked at each other, and Bloom seemed thoughtful.

"My turn!" Avi decided, forgetting about being silent. She walked through the machine, and Saf heard another little "beep" as she did, though nobody else seemed to be paying much attention.

Only Bloom was left on the other side. She smiled grimly. "I suggest everyone cover their ears," she said.

Roxy and Lysis did so without hesitation. Saf followed, and Avi did so as well, if a bit halfheartedly.

Bloom walked through.

Even through her hands, Saf could hear the loudest, most obnoxious noise she'd heard in a long, long time. It took almost the full ten seconds to fade. As it became quieter, the group uncovered their ears miserably.

Avi glared. "How much metal do you  _have_ with you _?_ "

* * *

Bloom led the group into her living room. Though they'd go to the lab later, for now it seemed too loud, too impersonal. Finding out about magic was easy for Bloom, who had always been open to the possibility, who had spent years studying mythology and legend. For Roxy, it had been significantly harder. Bloom didn't know Saf, but it seemed more likely that this would be a difficult conversation than an easy one.

She quickly made some tea and coffee and brought out some muffins she had baked the night before; bless Madame Greta from her old college job for teaching her how to bake. She distributed them among the girls, then sat in the last empty space on the couch, between Roxy and Lysis. "Okay, Saf," she said. "Tell me everything."

Saf thought, looking down at her tea. "I was born in Egypt and lived there for a while. After… things happened, my family moved to England. We lived there for seven years before coming here, to the US, last year."

"I think she meant about magic," Lysis said.

"No, Saf should have told me all that," Bloom said firmly. "Saf. Do you know for sure that you were born into your family?"

The girl nodded, still staring at her tea. "There are pictures of my mother holding me in the hospital. I know for sure I wasn't adopted, if that's what you're saying."

"Is it possible that her mother could be a fairy?" asked Roxy. "Maybe that's why she had the Gem of Arcelia, and why we never knew there was another fairy. The Wizards of the Black Circle didn't know about me until I was about sixteen, right? Because I'm only half fairy, technically. Isn't it my human side that hid me?"

Lysis frowned. "There's no such thing as a half-fairy; you either are magical, or you aren't. That said, it isn't too far off to believe that the Wizards could have found you as a child and assumed that since your father is human, you would be too, and they didn't rethink it until you activated your powers. Fairies marrying humans isn't exactly common, after all. There isn't a precedent for you, Princess, remember that. With that logic in mind, Saf could definitely be in the same situation."

"Saf?" Bloom asked gently. "Do you know if your mother is a fairy?"

" _Was,_ " Saf said quietly, her voice muffled. Her hands were on her face, obscuring it from the view of the others. "And no. She was not."

Avi jumped up, spilling coffee on Bloom's couch as she did. "Look! Now you've upset her!" She turned to her friend. "Don't listen to these jerks, they didn't know, and even if they could have been more sensitive, they're probably just trying to help."

Saf looked up. Her eyes were wet. "Yes, you're right," she agreed softly.

"What about the Gem?" Lysis asked, not bothering to make sure that Saf was ready to continue. "You said it was your mother's?"

"Yes."

"And how are you so sure that your mother wasn't a fairy?"

Saf opened her mouth, but Avi was the one who cut in. "You heard the girl. Her mama  _died._ Do you think that her mama would've died if she was as magical as you assume?"

Bloom, Roxy, and Lysis looked at each other. Bloom sighed. "Yes. Magical beings can die. I've seen it happen on multiple occasions."

"In addition, the last fifty years or so have seen more magical deaths on Earth than any other period in time. We were being terrorized. Many of us were captured, but some refused to go alive. Those fairies paid the ultimate price for their freedom," Lysis said. She bowed her head in reverence.

There was silence for a moment. "Perhaps my mother was a fairy, then," Saf said. "She never told me."

Roxy smiled. "I went through the same thing, you know, Saf. My father told me my mother was dead. That isn't too uncommon, a dead human mother. When I discovered my powers, I learned that she was a fairy, and an alive fairy at that. She's here in this very castle right now."

"Don't get too hopeful your mother is alive, as well," Lysis warned. "You'll only let yourself down if you're wrong."

"I…I know," Saf said.

Bloom cleared her throat. "Anyway, we know that Saf has magic; there's no question about that, is there?"

Avi finally sat back down. "So magic like the fairies on television. Like you guys."

"Yes, exactly. That machine downstairs is a kind of detector. It can tell your general power level, which depends on training, natural strength, and how fully you believe. As you can tell, Lysis and Roxy are well trained and extremely gifted, respectively. Neither is supremely powerful, but there is no doubt there is some amazing magic at work between them. Saf, on the other hand, has power, but it's extremely weak right now. She'll need confidence and training to be like us."

"Does she even want to?" Avi blurted.

Saf paused. She had been about to mention that if that machine was a magic detector… the beeping she had heard when Avi went through must mean that Avi was a fairy as well. From the way Avi looked, though, with her eyebrows knit with determination and her fists clenched, and the words she yelled, it seemed that maybe she wouldn't want magic.

Saf refused to out her like that.

"What do you want, Saf?" Bloom said gently. "As much as we would love a new fairy around, as far as we can tell you are in no immediate danger. After a few more tests, you can go home."

Lysis frowned. "Queen Nebula would never allow that. A fairy she doesn't know about, living with humans? Unaware of how to control her magic? Unlikely."

Bloom stood, and Saf swore that she could see fire in the woman's eyes, dancing dangerously. "Nebula is my gracious host and a dear ally, but I won't see another girl's normal life destroyed. Roxy may love magic now, but she was scared when she was brought in.  _Her_ life was threatened.  _Saf's_ life is not. Should Nebula  _or you_ try to ruin that life when she does not give her permission, I will make clear my position not as her advisor, but as Crown Princess of Domino and the vessel of the Great Dragon, and I will remind the fairies of Tir Nan Og that I was among those who defeated them not even a few months ago. Is that clear, Lysis Ashman?"

Silence reigned in the room. After a moment, Lysis dropped her head. "Yes,  _Bloom Peters,_ " she muttered through her teeth.

Saf didn't know any of the women well, but from what she knew of Lysis and what Bloom had just said, she could gather that by ignoring Bloom's apparent title of "crown princess," she was being incredibly and uncharacteristically disrespectful. Bloom, for her part, ignored that graciously. "Saf, I give my word that if you don't want to be involved, you probably won't have to after one thing is settled."

"What is that one thing?" Saf asked. Her voice sounded tiny and scared, even to her.

"I suppose it's time to tell you about the barrier…"

* * *

Saf somehow had managed to transform into a fairy when her father was in danger. She managed to transform back after Lysis threatened her with all manner of scary things. She was starting to believe that it required something very, very frightening before she could switch forms at all.

When she vocalized her thoughts, Roxy laughed. "Transforming isn't like the hiccups. You just have to believe."

Standing a few feet away, eyes narrowed, Avi said, "That is the sappiest sap to ever be said."

Saf laughed, but she closed her eyes and tried hard to visualize herself again transforming, her body enveloped in a flash of light, wings springing from her back.

Then, she felt a sharp pang near her shoulders and opened her eyes to find herself hovering off the ground. "Oh my," she said quietly.

She surveyed the area. Above her was seemingly unbroken sky, the sun setting quickly behind the line of trees and the large castle. Around her stood Avi, Epunine, and the fairies. Bloom and Roxy were smiling. Lysis seemed as serious as ever, though the pixie resting on her head broke the appearance a little. Avi's expression was unreadable, even for someone who knew her very well.

"What now?" asked Saf.

Bloom looked up at the sky, turning darker by the minute. "Now, we're going to fly up to the barrier and see if you can break it."

"With fighting magic?" said Saf. Bloom nodded. "But how do I do that?"

"More visualization," Roxy suggested. "Yell out what you want the spell to do. A couple words is fine, as long as you understand it. Then you aim and fire."

Saf nodded. "I can do that."

"Great!" Bloom enthused. "So let's go!"

The three remaining fairies vanished into their own lights, one teal, one green, one blue and pink. As they emerged, they were smiling. "Ready?" asked Bloom.

"Wait!" Avi stood a little away, frowning. "What about me? If you're all gonna just fly up to this barrier, how do I get there?"

"Humans stay on the ground," Lysis snapped, then she took off, her wings carrying her further and further upwards.

Bloom wore an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Avi. There's not really a way for you to get up there unless one of us carries you, and we'll all need our hands. It'll only take a minute, I promise." Then she followed Lysis.

"Do you want me to stay down here?" Saf asked her friend.

Avi shook her head. "The sooner you beat up that barrier, the sooner we'll be done. Just… go. I'll wait like a good little human."

She didn't sound happy, but neither girl could deny the logic was unsound. Safeyah began to flap her wings, letting them take her higher and higher. Roxy followed.

* * *

From the ground, Avalon Masterson couldn't see the fairies. Clouds blocked them, for the most part, and it was continuing to grow ever darker. She didn't like it. In fact, she would have done anything to avoid the dark, really.

She sat down in the grass and dug around in the pocket of her racing jacket, putting things on the ground as she pulled them out. First, a Swiss Army Knife… then a multitool disguised as a hairclip. After that was a pack of chewing gum, a miniature spiral notebook and pen… finally, she found her lighter.

Carefully, she flicked it on, feeling the heat and the light warm her face and heart. After a few seconds, she let the flame die down, wishing she had something to burn. She dug around in her other pocket for a candle… sometimes she carried those, but not today. With a sigh, she hugged herself, hoping the fairies wouldn't take too long.

Abruptly, it became even darker, as though a shadow was falling on her. "Well, well, well," said a low, good-humored voice.

Avi looked up into the face of a young man. His wild Mohawk hairstyle and the red tattoos all over his skin, just as black as hers, made him seem wild and unpredictable. Avi's logical impression was that she could like this guy; her heart, however, screamed at her that he was not to be trusted. "Who are you?" she said dumbly, not sure which part of herself to trust.

The man grinned, and threw back his head as he laughed a deep and genuine laugh. "That's hardly what I think you'd ask me first, and besides, I'd rather know who  _you_ are. How did a human make her way into Tir Nan Og?"

Avi frowned, wondering whether to tell this strange man the whirlwind story. What harm, though, could it have? "I followed my best friend here," she said.

"And where is she?"

She pointed upwards. "Trying to break this weird invisible barrier, because she's a Very Special Fairy or something."

"A Very Special Fairy?" the man repeated with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah. But enough about that. Really, who are you?"

"My name is Trudric Cross."

"Well, how did  _you_ make your way into Tir Nan Og? You don't seem to be a fairy either."

"Why not? Because I'm a man?" Avi nodded. "That's a little sexist, don't you think?"

Avi felt blood rise to her face. "Um, I mean…"

Trudric laughed. "You're correct. I'm a wizard."

"Like the kind that made this barrier?"

The laughter stopped. "You know a lot, don't you?"

Avi hadn't thought anything of Trudric's sudden appearance after the initial shock of seeing him. Suddenly, however, clues seemed to fall into place. He was vaguely menacing. A wizard. He was asking too many questions. None of that seemed to bode well. "In fact," she chanced, "I think… I  _know_ … that you're one of the wizards who did this! What do you want? Why are you here?"

Trudric smirked. Frustrated, Avi reached for her Swiss Army Knife, determined that she would at least have a way to defend herself should he try to attack her… even if she wasn't magical, and oh, how she wished she was, a pocket knife could still cut.

It was gone. In fact, everything was gone. Her beloved tools. The soft grass beneath her, the blue sky above her. In a black void, all she could see was herself and the wizard, though how she could even see that when it was so dark, she didn't know.

"I don't like it when girls try to fight," Trudric said in an amiable tone. "It isn't really very ladylike."

"I'm not very ladylike," Avi whispered as she shut her eyes. If it was going to be dark, it was going to be a dark she had chosen, not one forced upon her.

"What was that? I didn't hear," said the wizard.

Avi clenched her hands into fists.  _Whatever situation I find myself in, it will be one I choose. I refuse to let anyone force me into any situation I don't want to be in. Nobody else has power over me… there's no one else in this world that's in charge of Avi Masterson!_

She opened her eyes, surprised to find out that it was a little brighter, as if her decisions were a magic spell and not just comfort words. "I said," she yelled, " _I'm not very ladylike_!"

Her left hand, still a fist, seemed to move towards the wizards on its own, with almost no thought from Avi herself. As it rushed towards Trudric's face, she was surprised to find that it was glowing silver.

She looked at Trudric right before her fist hit its mark.

The satisfied smirk on his face was the last thing she saw before being completely enveloped in a silver glow.

 


	6. Illusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A battle of strength is solved in wit... or is it?

Avi emerged from the silver light looking for all the world like an avenging angel. If said angel happened to also be a mechanic.

Her racer's jacket and pants had morphed into a sparkling silver jumpsuit with no sleeves, instead relying on black elbow length gloves to keep her arms warm. Her hair, normally pulled into a tight ponytail to help control the kinks and curls, was now in two twin buns reminiscent of Sailor Moon… but the most important thing was that that kind of hairstyle would stay safely out of harm. A pair of knee-length black boots and wings that looked like they had been made by a blacksmith completed the look.

She was a fairy. That much was obvious, even expected, perhaps. In hindsight, she found it highly predictable.

Avi, however, was not one to dwell in hindsight, and besides, if she paused to admire herself she'd be leaving an important job unfinished.

She let her gloved fist connect with Trudric's face.

The wizard yelped in pain and hopped backwards, cursing. As Avi smirked, satisfied with her work, he glared at her. "Couldn't you use magic like every other fairy?" he demanded.

Avi pretended to think, then grinned. "Well," she said, "you asked for it. Hammer Fist!"

A ray of silver magic pelted him in the gut. She couldn't help but laugh.

Then bright red magic came towards her, and her giggle fit abruptly stopped as she tried to maneuver her brand new wings well enough to dodge.

* * *

"So," Bloom said with raised eyebrows. "Can we all agree that next time, we don't leave humans alone on the ground?"

"Well, she didn't turn out to be human," Lysis grumbled.

Saf's hands were clutched at her heart nervously, and Roxy watched with furrowed brow as the four fairies tried to figure out what to do next. After it was clear that Saf could not break the barrier… or at least, she couldn't in her current stage of training… they had come back down to the ground to see Avi transform and a fight between the two commence. Though Roxy had tried to jump in and help, Lysis pulled her back and pointed something out. Though the four fairies could see Avi and Trudric fight, Avi and Trudric did not seem able to see  _them._  "We don't know what kind of trance they're in," Lysis argued. "Or what interfering might do."

"It would be easier if we knew more about the Apprentices," said Bloom. "Once we figured out what kinds of powers the Wizards specialized in, their strategy was predictable. This, on the other hand, is odd on multiple levels. What is Trudric doing? Where are the others? Are they in Tir Nan Og as well, or are they attempting a divide and conquer strategy?" She shook her head, frustrated. "I don't know. I need the Winx Club. We could figure it out together."

"The others can't be here right now, Bloom. It's up to you, me, and all the fairies of Earth," Roxy said. "I know you don't know us as well, and I know we've never been on any grand adventures with you, but you have to trust that we can help."

Bloom looked away and her red hair flopped into her face. "It's not the same."

"I know. It may never be the same again, though, if we don't work together," Roxy said, not unkindly.

They looked back to the battle. Roxy was pleasantly surprised to see that Avi was holding her own in the fight. Steel-colored wings glittered as they carried her out of harm's way time and time again.

Then, the unthinkable happened. A beam of Trudric's magic shot quickly, too quickly, and found its mark in those lovely wings. Roxy looked away, cringing, not wanting to see what would happen.

"Roxy, it's okay!" Bloom said, and she sounded equal parts amazed and excited. "Look!"

Timidly, Roxy looked back towards the battle. Trudric had been knocked to the ground and was cursing wildly as Avi stood over him, triumphant. "What happened?" asked Roxy.

Bloom smiled widely. "Her wings actually reflected his blast! I've never seen anything like it. I think they must be actual metal!"

"Could they still be torn off?" asked Lysis. "If the Wizards' Apprentices are going to continue with their masters' work, we need to know."

"I'm sure they could with the right spell, or if someone was strong enough, but it seems pure offensive magic can't touch those wings." Bloom was still grinning. "This is amazing!"

Lysis was nodding rapidly. "I'd bet it's a sort of evolution mixed with magic. Since previous fairies had delicate wings, the new ones don't. I almost want to test Roxy and Saf's wings to see if theirs could withstand…"

"No way!" Roxy yelped.

"I wouldn't really!" exclaimed the fairy of biology, but her guilty face showed that maybe it wasn't completely the truth.

Out of the blue, Avi grinned. "Oh man, once my friends see me, they're gonna be stunned," she boasted. "Not that I'm magical or anything, but that I got out of this without a single scratch. For a wizard, you're pretty pathetic, eh, Trudric?"

"She shouldn't be taunting him." Lysis's face was pale. "She got lucky and she caught him off guard, but he must have had years of training by now… I can't imagine the Wizards finding apprentices in the last few months. I'd chance him to have studied for anywhere between fifteen and five hundred years."

"Five hundred? Who can live that long?" exclaimed Safeyah.

"Any magical being, easily," said Bloom. "Roxy's mother is over a thousand years old, in fact."

The new fairy stared at them warily. "How old are all of  _you_?"

"Lysis is twenty-three, Bloom is twenty-one, and I'm seventeen," Roxy assured her. "We really are the ages we look."

Avi didn't seem to be able to hear Lysis's warnings, just as she could not see her friends. "No wonder none of your friends came to help you. They're probably super embarrassed."

"This isn't good," Lysis said, her lips pursing.

"Heck, I'm getting massive secondhand embarrassment just from watching…" Avi continued with a smirk, closing her eyes in a satisfied way.

Trudric whipped his hand out and fired off a bolt of magic. It hit Avi square in the face, and she toppled to the ground.

The wizard stood and brushed off his long white robe casually. "What were you saying?" he said with a small laugh as he stepped on her stomach, his foot seeming to be exerting only enough force to keep her down, not to injure her. "Because it sounds like you were predicting how I now feel about you! How cute. Perhaps you're the fairy of premature gloating?"

Avi said a few well-chosen words that upon hearing, Lysis immediately clapped a hand over her own mouth, scandalized.

Trudric simply seemed amused. "Whatever you say will be of no concern once my brothers and sibling find us. We needed someone like you to help us set our plan into action."

"I'd never help you, never!"

"Dear fairy, did I even do anything to you? Up until you attacked me, I mean. So I helped seal Earth from the rest of the magic dimension. So what? You never knew there was anything outside your own world anyway. For you, to you, I have done nothing unprovoked."

Avi looked thoughtful, and Trudric tilted his head to the side, appraising her expression. "Trust me when I say you will help us," he said.

As soon as he said that, Avi turned defiant again. "You don't tell me what to do. Nobody can. I've made up my mind."

"You'll make up your mind to help us soon enough…"

Bloom turned to Lysis and Roxy. "I know we said we shouldn't interfere in whatever magic is at work, but the way this looks…"

"It's either going to end with a captured Avi, an endless circle of arguing, or both," Lysis finished wryly.

"I don't know which one's worse," Roxy added with a shudder.

"Time to interfere?" Saf asked, slightly hopefully.

"Time for  _us_ to interfere." Lysis stared at Saf haughtily. "You'll only end up getting in the way, untrained and ungifted as you are."

"Pardon me! Leaving an untrained fairy out of things was what caused this problem!" Saf wasn't entirely sure if her argument was worthwhile, but it was  _her_ best friend in the fray,  _her_  best friend who had followed  _her_ in a time of trouble. To not rescue Avi as Avi had attempted to rescue Saf… that would be a betrayal.

Roxy and Bloom nodded, seeming to agree, and begrudgingly, Lysis's face softened. "Fine. But you're staying behind one of us."

Saf wasn't Avi. She didn't argue any more. With Lysis, she wasn't sure how far she would get anyway.

Bloom clenched her fist. "What do you think this is, Lysis?"

"Illusion magic. He mentioned the others needed to find him, and he has yet to address us, so I'd chance that both of them are affected. Likely he learned it from one of the Wizards, but didn't learn how to alter the spell so he was left out of the illusion."

"Just what I was thinking. How come we're not affected?"

"We were flying near the top of the barrier, out of the radius. It wasn't set up to incorporate anyone who came too close, simply those around when the spell came into play."

Roxy and Saf tried not to look too confused. Bloom, for her part, seemed to follow the conversation with ease. "Have you ever fought an illusion-user before? Do you know how to defeat them?"

"No. I've never met one. Earth fairies are usually above cheap tricks. You?"

"Just one." Bloom frowned, seeming lost in thought for a moment. "I never asked Mirta how her powers work. I should. She just never seemed that important after…"

Avalon spit out another nasty word, and Roxy frowned. "Bloom, do you mind maybe monologuing after we save Avi?" said the pink-haired teen.

"Oh. Yeah. Um, I propose we go at Trudric with offensive force. Hopefully he'll drop his concentration."

"And hopefully," Lysis said, "he won't pull an illusion over us as we do that."

"That's something to worry about. Roxy, Saf. Lysis and I will attack. You two fly as far as you can while still being able to see us. If we're illusioned, then take Avi and get her away, then go to…"

Saf blinked. "That's it."

"What?" Bloom looked to the girl quizzically. "What's it?"

"You couldn't fly Avi up because we needed to offensively cast spells, but you  _could_ carry her, right?"

Bloom nodded.

"Why don't we just pick her up and fly her away? We can deal with the illusion later if this doesn't work, but the way I see it is that once Trudric realizes she's gone, he'll have to drop the illusion over them so he can find her again. By the time that happens, we'll be far enough away and prepared enough to have the advantage."

Bloom, Lysis, and Roxy stared at her. "That may just work," Lysis admitted softly.

"No harm in trying," Bloom agreed. "It isn't like he can see us or hear us. Likely he'll have no idea what's going on."

Saf smiled, happy she made a good suggestion. "So we're going for it?"

"Yes," said Lysis. "Why not?"

* * *

Avi didn't feel anything lift her. She was only aware of the sensation of  _movement._ Movement she had not caused.

There were not many guidelines in the dark to show her how far away she was. There was only Trudric, seeming to get increasingly smaller. He shouted at her as she moved away, but something seemed to restrain his arms, something invisible. Avalon laughed.

Then, she frowned. She was moving away in a dark, dark void, and the farther she moved from the wizard, the darker that void seemed to get.

_Is this death? Was I really so defeated?_

At least it didn't hurt. It was just incredibly confusing.

Avi hung her head.  _Saf better appreciate this. And when they bury me, they better mention I was the coolest fairy ever, even if I was only a fairy for like, ten minutes._

As she lifted her head up, prepared to face whatever was or wasn't waiting for her on the other side, she saw cracks of light in the darkness. Slowly, the cracks grew and grew, letting white light into the dark dimension until the blackness shattered spectacularly.

She was in a forest. Bloom had one of her arms, Roxy another, and Saf had her legs. They were at least ten feet off the ground.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Avi demanded.

The three fairies smiled. "Looks like it worked," said Bloom.

"I did not expect Trudric to release the illusion that quickly," Saf said happily.

"Can you fly on your own, or do you need us to carry you?" Roxy asked, concerned.

Avi flapped her wings experimentally. "I think… I know I can fly on my own, but what happened?"

"Trudric, the wizard, trapped both of you in an illusion world," Roxy explained. "We could see you both, but you couldn't see or hear us. We weren't planning on interfering at first, but you looked like you could use some help. Dropping you in five, four, three, two…"

As they released her, she freefell for a second before letting her lovely wings take her up to the same height as her friends both old and new. "Okay, so you saw me kick butt magically, but did you see me punch him? That was the best part."

"We saw," Bloom assured her.

"So rad! And I'll do it again if he…"

"Not likely."

The fairies looked backward mid-flight to see Lysis closing in behind them. She quickly joined their flight group. "I chased him off, but it was only because he was outnumbered," she informed Roxy. "I couldn't defeat him. Now, as for you, Avalon Masterson, you will  _not_ be punching anyone because you will never have the opportunity to battle him again. You could have been killed, once he discovered you were a fairy. The audacity to transform like that!"

"Well, I couldn't control it," mumbled the dark-skinned teen. "It just happened after I decided I was gonna mess him up."

"No more," said Lysis firmly. "Bloom, I don't care what you do to me. We're taking them to Nebula and Morgana the  _instant_ we are back at the castle."

* * *

"So you see, my queen, the only thing we can hope to do is establish some sort of training or schooling for these new fairies. While Safeyah's powers could be inherited, Avalon shows no fairy lineage whatsoever."

"And a week ago, I ran into another human girl with powers," Bloom added. "I don't think a school is a good idea, but I do agree with Lysis's assessment that new fairies are somehow coming into existence, and we need to count on that being linked with the Apprentices and the Very Special Fairy."

Nebula frowned. "If you don't agree with schooling, what do you propose?" Next to her, Morgana nodded, as though prodding on an answer.

"That the girls be offered a normal life, once they are tested to see if they can break the barrier. If they choose magic, Alfea College awaits them once the barrier is broken. We don't have the necessary staff or facilities to train them here in Tir Nan Og, not when the castle is so busy preparing for war."

"The barrier breaking could take years!" Lysis argued. "Our only bet is for Roxy and I to find these fairies as soon as possible and immediately start training them. Give them no choice; they will only be weak links in war if they are not instructed. Queen Nebula, you know war well, you know this to be true."

Avi raised a hand lazily. "Yes, Miss Masterson?" addressed Queen Nebula.

"Look, Queen, these two did  _not_ handle Saf and me that well, you know? If you leave them in charge of recruiting new fairies, you won't get many willing girls at all. I propose that Saf and I come along to help ease the girls into things, since we know what it's like." Avi folded her arms over her chest confidently. "What do you say?"

Nebula looked to Morgana. "I believe I have a solution that will fit all needs," Morgana said. "Permission to propose it?"

Nebula nodded. Morgana stood. "A school shall be founded in a new location, across the country from us, so that another safe haven for fairies and war base will be established with it. Attendance will be mandatory for all fairies under the age of eighteen and those over eighteen who cannot demonstrate proficiency in magic. It will also teach typical high school subjects in addition to magical, in order to appease human parents."

Lysis smirked at Bloom, pleased to have won.

"However," Morgana continued, "Not all students shall be residential. Some will travel and learn on the road, through action rather than theory. In return for this extended field trip style of learning, they will help locate and recruit new students."

Avalon nodded approval. Only Bloom still seemed disgruntled.

"Bloom will vacate her current position as Modernity Advisor and will be headmistress and professor of this new school."

If anything, Bloom looked even less pleased.

"Does this suit you, sister?" asked Morgana.

Nebula nodded. "Yes. Plans should be set into action to purchase a large property on the east coast immediately. I imagine the majority of the population would be residential, keep that in mind. Bloom, come, we have much to discuss."

Bloom took a deep breath before following Nebula and Morgana away.

Roxy grinned at the three remaining fairies. "A school. I guess I'm going, since I'm seventeen… I hope Alfea allows transfers."

"I don't know what Alfea is, but I don't think any of us are going to really  _go_ to this school. Didn't you hear? We're the students on the move!" Avalon put one arm over Roxy's shoulder, the other over Saf's. "We're like some special task force. Collecting fairies, helping them grow, just you three and me. The core four."

"Did you just name us?" Lysis said wearily.

"You know what? I think I did."

Saf smiled. "So does this mean we're all friends now?"

Everyone looked to Lysis. Among the three teenagers, no words were needed. The older fairy, on the other hand, was still unpredictable and a little bit grumpy.

Lysis sighed. "If we must be. A bond would make it easier to work together anyway."

"I think that's the best we're getting," Avi said.

Roxy smiled. "Yeah. For now," she said, and her voice was full of hope for the future of the small group… and for all the new fairies who now had four young guides to lead them to control their powers.


	7. Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Relationships are built and revealed at the opening of the Royal Fairy Academy.

Leilani Castro had a problem.

"So," said her newest college adviser in a saccharine sweet voice, "Leilani. What are you planning on majoring in?"

"I was thinking about Magical Studies," said Leilani, smoothing back her straight black hair. Her voice was high, but stubborn. Nobody was going to talk her out of this. No one.

The adviser's eyes widened. "I see. I have a few pamphlets that you might want to see…" From her drawer, she pulled some out and handed them across the desk, to where Leilani sat.

Leilani leafed through them.  _Integration into the College Experience for Fairies. Introduction to Twenty-First Century Education. Nuances of Humans in the 2000s: Making Your Modern Education Worthwhile and Fun!_

This always happened. Leilani handed them back. "Ma'am, I'm not a fairy. I'm human. A normal, eighteen-year-old human."

Her adviser stopped dead in her tracks. She had been texting, rather unprofessionally and probably about actually meeting a real magical being. They rarely came as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, so it must have been a big deal. "You aren't?" asked the woman.

"No," confirmed Leilani.

The adviser sighed, put her phone down, and looked Leilani dead in her dark green eyes. "Well then, sweetie… have you considered a more  _normal_ major?"

Leilani sighed.

* * *

Only a few miles away, five very real fairies stood in front of a large, old building. "I can't believe Aunt Nebula actually bought this place," said Roxy as she admired its dark bricks and lovely wooden carvings. "It almost puts the castle to shame."

"Not at all," Lysis said with a small sneer. "It's much less beautiful. That said, I never would have expected such craftsmanship to still survive."

"It barely did," said Bloom. "This used to be a different school, a Catholic high school. It was abandoned for a number of reasons, and raiders tore apart quite a lot of the place. It took five of Earth's best fairy architects to repair it, let alone to modify it to suit our needs."

"It was modified, then?" asked Safeyah. "How so?"

Bloom ticked things off her finger. "The cafeteria was converted into a homier dining hall. Classrooms were magic-proofed. Most religious imagery was removed, to promote secular magical education. Of course fairies are welcome to integrate their own religion into their own work, but I won't force anything on anyone. We even have an agreement with a church down the road that does inclusive and nondenominational services… there's a shuttle to pick up anyone who wants to attend."

"Thank goodness," Saf muttered, thinking about her own beliefs and how often she had to deal with crap just because of them.

Bloom continued. "The entire third floor was converted into dorms that house up to four girls each, and pretty comfortably too. Each four person room has two bunk beds, two desks, three drawers worth of storage per girl, as well as small individual bulletin boards. The two person rooms are the same, but with only one bunk bed and desk. There's also a single one person room… I hoped Roxy would take it."

"What? Why?" exclaimed the seventeen year old.

"It's for the student president. Since part of her job will be to counsel newer students, she has her own room so she can bring girls in for some privacy."

Roxy thought. "I would do it, but since I'll be one of the travelling students, I won't be much help when I'm gone. Why don't Saf, Avi and I just take a four person room for when we're here? It probably won't be often, so I don't think any of us would mind being a little more cramped than in a one or two person room."

The other two teens nodded in agreement.

"I guess that means I need a new student president," Bloom said with a frown.

"You need a student body first," Lysis said. "This school is so large that with only three girls, it's going to be impossible. And what about a staff? For now you and I can be teachers alone, but once we get more than three girls, it'll be harder. Fairies have different needs, too."

"No problem," Bloom said confidently. "We'll pick up students as we go, and since I'm sure girls will also discover their powers independently from us, I made a website directing them here. As for staff, I have half the staff lined up already. I'm teaching English and history, both of Earth and of the Magic Dimension. Both Wizgiz and Tecna have agreed to teach via webcam: metamorphosymbiosis and magitechnology respectively. There's a human tutor lined up for math and science… I'd put you in science, but you'll be with the field trip group, and while you're here, you're a counselor." Lysis's eye twitched noticeably. "And then Nebula is sending someone who she says can teach spells, magiphilosophy and ethics, and a martial arts class."

Lysis blinked. "What?"

"Is something wrong with Lysis?" Avi asked, waving her hand in front of the biology fairy's face. "Lysis, you look like you saw a ghost. Or maybe, like you are a ghost. You're pale enough."

"Spells, magiphilosophy, and martial arts? Like T'ai Chi?"

"How did you know?" asked Bloom, puzzled.

Lysis threw up her hands. "I can't believe my queen would do this to me. Queen Nebula very well knows how I feel about…"

"How you feel about who?" asked a new voice, low, steady, and strangely calming.

Lysis and the others turned to face a woman with curly brown hair that framed a heart-shaped face the color of cream. Dark brown eyes sparkled behind thin silver wire-framed glasses.

"Victoria," Lysis nearly spat. "Victoria Watson."

* * *

Roxy did not see what made Lysis so angry.

Victoria "Tora for short" Watson was pretty, smart, and energetic. She introduced herself as the fairy of education, and it seemed strangely fitting… emphasis on the strange. Tora was unlike any teacher Roxy had ever known. She climbed the large stairs leading to the school building quickly and easily and with an almost tangible joy. Then, though she had never seen the school before, she became the leader of exploring it.

Lysis trailed behind, mumbling under her breath. Roxy was sure she heard a few curses… less of the normal sort, and more of the magical. They seemed to go unfinished, and Tora didn't notice at all. Or else, she was ignoring Lysis. Roxy wasn't sure which one it was, as both women seemed to want to stay as far away from the other as they could.

By the time Tora and the group reached the third-floor dorms, everyone but the tour leader was out of breath. The speed at which they moved was just a little too fast, almost like a workout. "Let's take a break," Bloom suggested. "Avi, Saf, Roxy, why don't you find a room you like and claim it?"

"You guys go on ahead," Roxy said to her new friends. "I want to talk to the others about something."

Avi shrugged. "Okay, but no complaining about what we pick if you aren't here when we decide."

Roxy wasn't that picky. She agreed, and as the two girls ran off to find a room, she walked over to Lysis. "We need to talk," she told the older fairy, pulling her aside.

When they were a suitable distance away, Roxy stared Lysis in her cold blue eyes. "What is with you?" she demanded. "You're acting like a jerk. More than usual, I mean."

Lysis looked away. "I dislike my queen's selection for this teacher."

"Yeah, I caught that. But why? It can't be a professional thing, she's the fairy of education. So it has to be personal." Lysis didn't answer. Roxy took a deep breath. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, that's…"

"She abandoned me," Lysis said quietly.

"What?"

"We were… close. Very close." Lysis's eyes began to water and she bit her lip. "I loved her."

"She was your best friend?"

"Closer."

Roxy understood. "Your girlfriend?"

Lysis nodded. "For over a year. Tir Nan Og, where we were trapped, did not offer many date opportunities, but yes. We held hands and talked. We fought together, took on the Wizards and the Winx together. Lived together. Were together. It was natural. The fairy of education, the fairy of biology. So much could be talked about. We had the same thirst to learn and the same drive. She was loud where I was quiet, though, and I was logical where she was impulsive. The same, but different. Balanced."

"What happened?" Roxy asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"When we were freed, she took off with no word to me except for 'Bye.' A new world, where we could do anything… magic, marriage, even just a movie date… and she left. She wanted to explore, of course. To learn, to move, to use her natural energy. Maybe she didn't think I could keep up. Maybe she just wanted to be alone. I don't know, but she didn't care about me at all, and that proved it." Lysis pursed her lips. "Victoria Watson is flighty, childish, and selfish. I'd watch out for her, princess."

Roxy did not answer, but she did start back to the others, only pausing to ask one thing. "You're still getting over that. Is that why you're so… ah, high strung? Like you don't want anyone to have fun? Isn't Epunine supposed to help you with that?"

Lysis looked down and wiped some angry tears from her eyes. "Epunine isn't here, and I'm not sure. It might be. Do I... do I really seem like that?"

"Yeah. A little."

"I don't blame  _fun._ I blame her. I'll try to… loosen up a bit, I suppose. If you insist, my princess." And Lysis smiled a tiny smile.

Roxy sighed, though she was secretly glad to get Lysis confiding in her. "You can start loosening by remembering to just call me Roxy."

* * *

"How did your meeting go, LeLe?" asked Anthony.

Leilani rolled her eyes at the nickname that only her boyfriend and his sister, her best friend, called her. "How do you think it went?"

"Not good?"

"Not one bit different than any of the others."

Anthony took her into his arms. Leilani was tall and muscular for a girl, but her boyfriend was taller and buffer, a football player through and through. "It's okay, sweetheart," he said softly. "They can tease you, but they can't make you study anything you don't want to."

"My problem is the exact opposite. They don't want me to study what I want to!" She sniffled. "Even if that major is designed for fairies, I want to learn all about magic. What it can do. The history behind it. The science. I know I can do something with it, even if I can't cast spells."

"I know you can too. I'm sure the counselors are looking out for you. There are only four schools on Earth with a Magical Studies major, and the programs are difficult to get into, even if you do have magic."

"I know," Leilani said. "But I'm more determined than any fairy."

Anthony laughed. "I know you are. I'm sure you can get in, with or without their applications."

"I hope so. If you're transferring to Penn State, I'm coming with you, no matter what."

"Even if it means changing what you want to major in?"

"It won't mean that," Leilani said in her most confident voice.

Anthony kissed her hair. "Speaking of transferring, I have to get to class now. I'll see you later, LeLe."

"Bye Anthony."

* * *

Then he was gone, and she was alone with their small apartment and her laptop. She opened it and pulled up the Wikipedia article that listed all five of the schools with her dream major, planning to stare longingly at it, maybe to daydream a bit.

When the page loaded, she blinked in surprise.

Six schools were listed, and the one on the bottom was only six blocks away.

The room that Saf and Avi picked out was painted pale green. The two had chosen the same bunk bed; Avi was on the top, and Saf on the bottom. Each had already begun to unpack a few things, though the majority of their clothes and toiletries stayed in their bags. "I don't know how we got here," Saf said suddenly. "This is such a large change, and so fast too."

"I guess it's how when a queen comes to tell your family you've been accepted into the Royal Fairy Academy, there's not much of a way to say no." Avi snorted. "What a stupid name. Did you know that the only reason that's what we're called is because my mom asked for the name of the school, and that was the first thing Nebsy thought of?"

"'Nebsy?'" Saf exclaimed in horror. "You can't just call Queen Nebula 'Nebsy!'"

"Why not?" Avi asked serenely.

Saf didn't answer, instead merely facepalming.

The door opened, and Bloom and Roxy walked in. The younger fairy looked around. "Wow! The room has a nice color. Good choice, guys."

Bloom nodded. "Do you guys want to see something cool, though?" Avi grinned, Roxy shrugged, and Saf agreed somewhat warily. "Okay, put your hands on different walls at the same time and concentrate."

The three girls did. After a few seconds, a design began to appear, almost like a reverse fade. Where Saf stood, storm clouds appeared. Over by Avi, designs like gears and cogs. With Roxy, there were paw prints.

"And the one left blank is for when or if you get your last roommate," Bloom announced. "The walls decorate themselves according to your powers. How cool is that?"

"Okay, but what is it? You never actually told us what are powers are," demanded Avalon, her hands still on the wall. "Am I the fairy of clockwork? The first ever steampunk fairy?"

The wall began to shift again. As Avi and the others watched, words appeared in metallic antique script.  _Avalon, fairy of tools._

Avi took her hands off. "Whoa."

Saf smiled. "What am I, magic wall?" she asked.

 _Safeyah, fairy of lightning,_ wrote the wall in a font that might be seen as the heading for an academic paper.

Roxy had taken her own hand off, but she put it back on her wall. "Okay, so I know my power, but do you mind doing that with mine too? It looks cool."

Roxy's wall chose letters that were fun and loopy.  _Princess Roxy, fairy of animals._  "Okay," giggled Roxy. "That is super cool."

Bloom moved slightly, out of the way of the door, and the girls saw a large diamond made out of four smaller diamonds. In all but the bottom one was a symbol. A gear. A lightning bolt. A paw print. "It also does this," Bloom said with a smile. "I thought that was more interesting than nameplates."

"Is there anything else we get to use our symbols for?" Avi asked excitedly.

"Actually yes, but I doubt you'll like them as much."

"What are they?"

Bloom stepped into the hall for a moment. When she returned, she had a laundry basket full of clothing in her hands. "Uniforms."

Roxy pretended to gag, but Avi and Saf only shrugged. "No big," said the fairy of tools.

"We wore uniforms at Saint Kinnia High School," Saf explained. "As long as they aren't horrible colors, I don't mind."

"And as long as they come with a pants option," added Avi.

Bloom took some of the clothes out. White polo shirts, the kind Saf might have worn even casually, met with four crocheted cardigans in different colors: light purple, sky blue, navy blue, and blood red. There were black skirts, jumpers, pants, and shorts, and a number of pale pink pieces of fabric. At the bottom of the basket, a tiny box was filled with silver brooches. "Please tell me we get to pick our colors of our jacket," said Avi.

"Or your House," said Saf. "Like in Harry Potter."

"Close, Saf, but no," said Bloom. She pointed to the colorful pile. "The color denotes what class you're part of. There are four, two for high school and two for college. Light blue is for high school aged basic magic users, like you guys. Purple is for advanced high schoolers, like Roxy. Likewise, dark blue is for the college students who are required to be here, and red is for any who might just want to major in magic."

"What are these things?" asked Roxy. She picked up one of the long, pink pieces of fabric.

Bloom grinned. "Wrap it around your neck or your waist and concentrate."

Roxy let the fabric drape over her shoulders hesitantly, and closed her eyes and thought. Immediately, the fabric began to shift into a large bow reminiscent of one on a magical girl uniform. The princess opened her eyes tentatively. "So, what is it?"

"It's whatever accessory you want it to be!" said Bloom. "Stella taught me the enchantment for that. Then all you do is find a place to attach your little brooch." She dropped one in Roxy's hand, face down. When Roxy went to attach it to the center of the bow, she found that it had her paw print symbol on it.

"Okay," Roxy admitted. "For uniforms, they're okay."

The girls each selected several pieces of clothing. Avi got her promised pants, while Saf went for the classic skirt and some knee-length black socks. Roxy took a little of everything.

Then Bloom left, and the girls unpacked more.

* * *

"This is cool," said Avi when they were almost through. "We're going to go to a school of magic, and we're gonna get called out on a regular basis to find more fairies. We have a dorm that decorates itself and changes how it looks when we ask it to. Even the uniforms aren't too bad. But it doesn't seem… I don't know."

"Real," said Saf. "In the end, there's this big, empty school, and right now it is only us attending."

"Right," said Roxy. She flopped onto her chosen bed, the bottom bunk of the set of beds Saf and Avi hadn't picked. "But I mean, that's what we're here for. We're going to fill this giant school to the brim, right?"

"Yeah!" said Avi. "And have all sorts of adventures. You're right, Rox. We just need to look towards the future."

"It's sure to be a bright one," Saf said with a smile.

Roxy wanted to agree, but questions and problems plagued her mind. Could Lysis ever work with Tora? How would new fairies be found? What were the dangers of the Apprentices lurking in the wings and waiting to strike? Now that she was at a school for magic, would she be able to pass all her classes?

The pink-haired teen closed her eyes.

The answers would come in time.

* * *

The sky was growing dark by the time Leilani worked up the courage to go to the old Catholic school that now housed a magical college. She stood outside of it for a few moments, staring up at it in awe. She had seen the building before, of course… but it had been almost decrepit, with an overgrown lawn. Now, it was beautiful.

She climbed the numerous stairs up the hill it sat on and thought about knocking on the door. It seemed odd, though, almost taboo. Who would answer the front door of a school this big, anyway? Better to walk in and find an office.

She wasn't a fairy. There was no magic in little LeLe. But she had more determination than an army.

Leilani took a deep breath and opened the door to the Royal Fairy Academy.


	8. Unusual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day on the town ends in a surprise nobody saw coming.

Leilani was prepared for a bustling hub of fairies who were planning to murder her behind her back. She was prepared for massive discrimination, immediate mistrust, and maybe even being chased out of the building. She was prepared for rejection the most.

What she was not prepared for was a near-empty school and a headmistress who offered her some very delicious hot chocolate.

"Tell me again," said the headmistress, who had introduced herself as Crown Princess Bloom Peters of Domino, then promptly asked Leilani to simply call her Bloom. "What made you want to study magic?"

Leilani took a breath, trying not to rush through her story almost inaudibly for a second time. "I don't have any sad story or anything. I mean, I do, but that's not related to magic. It's just fascinating, you know? How does it work? How can it work? What can we do with it now, what have people done with it in the past? I have so many questions, Miss Bloom, and I want all the answers."

Bloom sat her own hot chocolate down on the small table next to her. "And I doubt you're the type to hear a short explanation and say that's good enough."

"You're right."

The headmistress looked into her cup as though she were reading answers in it. Maybe she was. Leilani didn't know. All she knew was that the woman couldn't be much older than she was. Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one. She definitely wasn't older than twenty-five.

Except she was also a fairy, and fairies could look however they wanted to look.

Bloom looked up. "You're accepted under the condition that you promise you're aware of your situation. You obviously can't participate in practical classes, though you're welcome to observe. Also, we're a residential school, so you'll have to live on campus. We have uniforms. You have free time after school lets out at four, and the doors lock for college students at midnight, but since high school lights out is ten, you'll have to be quiet after that time. You understand… due to having high school students on campus, we will have to be stricter on our students than a traditional college program."

Great costs. Freedom, mainly. Not living with Andrew and Alexa would also be a sacrifice, though she knew her boyfriend and best friend were crowded even without her crashing on the couch. Then, of course, there was the entire matter of Anthony's dream of transferring from community college to Penn State, moving far away. Maybe, now, without her.

"Can I think about it?" she heard herself asking.

"Take as long as you need," Bloom said with a smile and a little wink. "But I hope you choose soon. Classes start tomorrow, you know."

* * *

The first day of school was surreal.

There were more teachers than students, despite the fact that half were digital. Though technically Roxy was in a different class than her two friends, they held all lessons together.

Normal lessons were first, mainly worksheets since the girls were all in different places in their lessons. Roxy was supposed to be a senior, but had dropped out to go to Alfea, so hadn't been studying even while she was on the road. Avalon and Saf had been back in school for three weeks, a month if they counted the week they spent transferring to the Royal Fairy Academy, but they were only juniors and Saf was in an advanced track.

While math and science were struggles, this worked fine for classes such as English (Roxy was slightly surprised to find that Saf, whose first language was Arabic, was the best of the group in that class). They could all read and analyze the same book, an old novel written by one of Nebula's childhood friends. History had a bit of a gap, with Roxy head of that class due to her knowledge of magical history as well as human.

After a quick lunch came the magic classes, which were slightly more separated. First, Saf and Avi worked with Wizgiz and Tecna over the computers while Roxy took face-to-face lessons with Tora. After an hour and a half, they switched.

Tora was a good teacher. Avi had peeked away from the program she was magicoding under Tecna's guidance to see her working with Roxy. Roxy had seemed to single-handedly levitate her half of the classroom's desks and chairs. The teen couldn't suppress a jealous sigh. It looked so cool.

"Avi?" Tecna said over the webcam. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, just got distracted."

Finally, it was time for her and Saf to work with Tora.

Tora had decided to make them play with crayons.

Saf struggled with the giant crayon that was hovering in the air. "I think it's stuck," she said with a sigh. "I can't get it back the way it was."

Avi, for her part, couldn't even get the crayons to come together. "What is this?" she barked, "a kind of torture?"

Tora was patient. "It's a simple matter merge exercise. All young fairies do them."

Avi stuck her tongue out at the crayon, then turned back to Tora. "Do we have to just visualize? Isn't there some sort of trick?"

"There's always a trick if you can find it," Tora said.

"What does that even mean?"

The teacher just shrugged and grinned.

Avi picked up a bunch of the crayons in her hand. "If only there was some kind of tool for this. Some kind of tool to make things bigger." But that wasn't the point of the practice; she was merging them, not enlarging them. With her free hand, she felt the small crayons. They were a tool, she realized. A tool to make art. And she was the fairy of tools, so she should be able to control them, to make them gather to her liking…

They raised up and merged. Just like that.

Avi jumped up and down, her pink tie knocking her in the face several times as she did. "Look! Tora, Saf! I did it!"

They applauded politely, and congratulated her, but soon Saf turned back to her own giant floating crayon. "I really don't know how I did this to begin with," she muttered.

"Try to tap into your power. Lightning can change sand into glass, right? When you think of how your power can change things, it makes everything a lot easier," Avi suggested. Saf closed her eyes. Avi could almost, but not quite, make out a lightning bolt that hit the giant crayon and split it into a dozen smaller ones that rained onto the girls. "Hey, you did it. Good job!" cried Avi.

She tried to focus on manipulating her own crayons, her own tools. Somehow, they seemed to be stuck. "Fudge," she sighed.

* * *

The last class of the day was a little different. Knowing how important the ability to defend themselves was to the fairies of Earth, Bloom set up a mandatory physical education period, so even if the girls had shaky magic, they could fight. Though the only two current options were T'ai Chi with Tora or archery with Lysis, Bloom promised more options in the future.

It had taken a while to decide what class to take, simply because they had wanted to take it together. "I want to take T'ai Chi," Avi had said firmly, "but I can tell how much Lysis hates Tora, and so I also don't want to pick that."

"I want archery, anyway," said Saf.

"I'm with Avi," Roxy said. "T'ai Chi sounds relaxing."

"I mean sure, but you can also kick butt with it," Avi said, throwing a mock punch. "It's one of the deadliest martial arts if you learn it right. All the best martial artists know it, along with all their other stuff. Besides, archery's cool, but not super practical. If those dumb Apprentices show up, what are you gonna do? Ask them to hold on while you run and get some bows and arrows?"

"Maybe we should just take this class separate after all," Saf suggested. "It sounds like you've already decided, and I know I have. Besides, that would spread the love around a little more evenly, rather than alienating one or the other."

They reluctantly agreed that was a decent idea, so Roxy and Avi went to Tora's class while Saf got private lessons with Lysis.

Roxy and Avi both found it was harder than they had expected. Roxy had wanted a fun and easy sport, and found the physical strain a little more than she had planned for. Avi had almost the opposite problem and always sped up her movements to nearly dangerous speeds.

Tora, for her part, was patient. "You'll get the hang of it. Don't do anything to strain your body, just relax for now and we'll add the cool stuff later."

They were shot by the time they got back to their dorm at four. "What now?" asked Saf, who was almost glowing from what she said was an amazing archery lesson.

Roxy shrugged. "Free time. Dinner's at six, curfew is at nine, and we have to have lights off at ten, though we can use a small study lamp until midnight."

"Let's go exploring," suggested Avi.

"We've explored the school at least ten times," Roxy noted.

"Not the school. The city. We're in a state capital and we've barely set foot off this property. I mean, come on? We'll skip dinner and eat out somewhere. We've got five hours, after all!"

"Five hours and a large stack of magiphilosophy and ethics homework each."

"Do you really think Tora expects us to do that?" scoffed Avi.

"Yes," said Roxy and Saf in perfect unison.

Avi rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. We'll go get dinner somewhere and be back by seven, in time to finish whatever stupid thing by midnight. Deal?"

Roxy glanced at Saf. "Think that's doable?"

Saf nodded and winked. "I know I can finish my homework in that time. I doubt that Avi can, but that would be her problem, not mine."

Avi smirked and shrugged. "I probably wasn't gonna do it anyway. So. What about pizza?"

* * *

Leilani spent the next day walking thoughtfully around the city, though she went to her apartment that night. This time, Anthony wasn't there, but Alexa was. The smaller girl was baking cookies in their cramped kitchen, but stopped and grinned when she saw her friend walk in the door. "LeLe! I thought you'd be back ages ago. Did you stop at the library?"

"Something… something came up." Alexa looked like she was about to ask for more details, so Leilani decided to beat her to the chase. "How would you feel if I moved out?"

Alexa paled and ran a hand through her thick black hair nervously. "Did you and Anthony break up? Cause I can't say anything if you did. He's my brother and you're my best…"

"We're still together," Leilani interjected. "But. Well. Something. I don't know how to tell you guys."

"Simple, let's go out and get some pizza!" Alexa said as she took a tray of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. "That was my last batch, after all. You'll think better away from the situation and with some food in your belly."

"Can we afford it?"

"I'll pay from my birthday money," Alexa responded with a smile. "I'd go out tonight anyway, now you're just giving me an excuse."

"You're gonna run out of money soon if you don't get a job," joked Leilani.

Alexa blew it off. "You know how my dad is. He'll send money when he starts feeling guilty. It's been a couple weeks so I'm expecting a check any day now."

"Don't you ever think you should go see him?"

"He doesn't want Anthony or me now that he has Alyssa and the twins," muttered Alexa darkly. "But whatever. Let's just go get some food, okay?"

They took the bus to a pizza place downtown and sat next to a small group of schoolgirls. "So," said Alexa after they placed their order, "What's up?"

Leilani shifted nervously. "I've been accepted into a Magical Studies program.

Alexa blinked and grinned. "That's great!"

"It's not at Penn State. And you have to live in a dorm, with a curfew. It's more like a boarding school than a college, but they want me. The headmistress seemed to, at least. I want to take it, but it means leaving."

"How far?"

"Just down the road. Literally. The old school. Still… Anthony's going away in a year, and…"

Alexa sighed. "He's only going away because you wanted to be with him and to be in that major. He could study at Penn State Harrisburg, he doesn't need to go to the main campus."

Leilani stopped. "It's really no issue, then?"

"Not at all. You worry too much, LeLe." The girl rolled her blue eyes. "I can't say I'm much of a romantic, but the mushy-gushy thing works out for you two. He'd follow you anywhere, you know."

A blush appeared on Leilani's face. "I know. But sometimes I forget."

_Everything is going great_ , thought Leilani.

At least, it was until an old woman two tables away collapsed.

* * *

First it was a single elderly woman. Within a minute, it was half the restaurant, Avi included.

Saf and Roxy looked worriedly at their friend, face down in the pepperoni. "This shouldn't be happening," Roxy said, more calmly than she felt. "And it can only mean that the Apprentices are here."

"No," Saf said. "It could, but it could be any number of other things."

"Like?"

Saf bit her lip and shook her head. "Never mind me. All the other options are just as terrifying, maybe more so."

Roxy stood up. Around her, people were fleeing the restaurant. Others dialed for emergency services. She ignored them, unsure of how to help. "Apprentices!" she yelled. "If you're here, come out! We're waiting for you!"

Saf raced over to Avi and began to take her pulse. "She's still breathing and her heart rate is okay," she told Roxy. "I'd chance that it's the same with the others. Let's get them out of here, and let's get out of here too. There could be something in the air."

"I'm sure it's the pizza," Roxy said. "Avi was the only one who had taken a bite so far."

"I still think we should…"

The door that led into the kitchen exploded.

Roxy was about to change her mind and bail… she was sure that between herself and Saf, they could drag Avi out of there. When one of the Apprentices stepped out of the fire and smoke, though, she knew she had no choice but to stay and fight.

This was the apprentice with curves and sleek metal armor, the one who did not seem quite like a male or a female. Their skin was dark, both naturally and from the soot and ash in the air. Wild hair the color of chestnuts flopped over their eyes and pooled on their broad shoulders, and when they smiled, their teeth were sharp and predatory.

"Gunner?" Roxy guessed, and the Apprentice nodded. "Well, Gunner, you better not take another step, or we're going to make you regret it!"

"Really?" Gunner's voice was surprisingly high and melodic, the kind that could sing soprano in an opera. "It looks to me that you're at a disadvantage. No grown-ups around to save you this time… and yes, I heard your little chaperone beat up Trudric."

That wasn't the complete story… after all, it had been Saf that had come up with that plan… but nobody corrected them.

Gunner looked around the pizza place. "I knew my fairy tracker worked, whether or not my brothers doubted it. What I didn't expect was for it to lead me to not one, not two, but three fairies. Strong ones, too, from the signal. The kind of power I'd expect from four or five. It would be easier if all three of you had succumbed to my little sleeping potion, but I guess life can't be easy."

"Jeez, woman!" yelled a male bystander across the restaurant. "You're psycho!"

Gunner narrowed their eyes and walked over to the man. The heels on their boots clicked against the tile. "First of all," they said, "that is very ableist of you. Second of all…" They picked the man up by his shirt collar with one hand and let him dangle for a dramatic second. "I'm not a woman."

Their free hand whipped out and a bolt of power punched the guy in his gut and launched him through the main window of the parlor. Gunner watched for a moment, satisfied, before turning back to the fairies. "I'm agender. They. How hard is it to understand? Anyway. Where was I?" they asked.

"Uh," said Roxy. "You were… about to let us go?"

"Not likely."

"Roxy, if we're to fight, we need to get everyone out of the restaurant!" yelled Saf. Many innocent people were hiding behind tables or even simply standing in the way, their eyes on the battle. Others were still slumped in their chairs, asleep.

"Or we could go outside," Roxy suggested. "It might be easier than to organize everyone!"

"That's a rotten plan. There are more people outside downtown in this hour than inside."

Gunner laughed. They knew a victory when they saw one.

The tall girl with long, silky hair who was climbing up onto a table, though? Not so much.

* * *

"Everyone!" Leilani yelled. "Get your loved ones and get outside. The ambulances will be here soon, I know!" She looked to the villain who was laughing in the doorway. "This person has no quarrel with us. Right?"

Gunner shrugged. "Normal humans? No, I have no issue. Take yourselves and leave. The fairies are all I care about."

Leilani nodded and thought. "Get the kids and the sleepers out," she ordered. "If we all work together, we can help."

"Oh, how sweet, the nonmagicals working together like that," Gunner said, placing a hand over their heart. "Just know I won't pause this battle for you, so stay out of the way."

The fairies who had been yelling earlier looked at each other, and the one with long, pink hair frowned. "You know if we fight around these people, we could hit them!"

"Exactly," Gunner grinned, and shot two quick bolts of magic into them. The fairies flew back into the wall and lay crumpled on the ground.

It was too much for Leilani. Alexa was already outside, having carried the first woman to faint almost single handedly. There were no more bodies to lift, so she darted for the door, wanting nothing more to go back to her normal life. If this were what fairies had to look forward to, she didn't want to be one anymore. She would find a nice, normal major, find a nice, normal life. Something suitable for humans. Once she escaped from this place…

A hand caught her wrist and pulled her backwards. As she looked up, she found herself face to face with Gunner, almost embracing them. "Where are you going?" asked the wizard softly.

Leilani felt wetness on her cheeks and realized she was crying. "You said we could leave."

"Normal humans can leave."  _Oh god, here's where they tell me I'm a fairy. Right when I don't want to be one. Of course that's how it works, and now I'm going to get magically thrown against a wall._ "Don't you realize you're no normal human? So clearheaded. So brave. You stood up among everything to protect something, though the lives of those people you saved are nearly useless." Gunner grabbed Leilani's other wrist with their remaining hand, keeping the woman firmly in place. "Do you know what makes a wizard?" they asked her.

She shook her head.

"Wizards are made from the power of knowing how to sacrifice. Not animals or people, not necessarily. The kind of sacrifices in choices. And you, you just sacrificed your own anonymity and freedom to save the lives of many. All it would take is one tiny ritual to lock that moment in time and unlock all your potential. That's all it  _will_  take." Gunner smiled serenely. "Fairies are all well and good, but wizards are even better for our purposes. Won't my brothers be pleased?"

Leilani struggled against her captor. "Let me go! I'm just normal, really, anyone would do what I did!"

"Yet no one else did." Gunner clicked their tongue. "So modest. So powerful. So…"

"Creepy. If you're talking about yourself," said the pink haired fairy as she stood. Right behind her, the dark-haired one rose on shaky legs. "Saf, let's transform and get this person."

As twin beams of light shone brightly, then faded to reveal the girls in sparkly outfits and wings, Gunner let Leilani's hands drop. Leilani took a couple shaky steps backwards and ran. She wanted to get out the door, but somehow, she found herself running for the only remaining sleeper in the restaurant, a dark-skinned girl with a curly ponytail and the same uniform that the two fairies had been wearing.

Those two wouldn't be able to hold their own for long; they'd need all the help they could get. Leilani shook the girl. "Wake up, wake up! Please, oh please, wake up!"

The girl stirred, then yawned and rose. Were the situation not so dire, Leilani might have laughed at the piece of pepperoni pizza stuck to her face. "What's goin' on?" the girl asked tiredly. She looked around, and before Leilani could even think to answer, another beam of light revealed another fairy.

Gunner didn't seem nervous. They seemed eager, even. "Three fairies and a nice human? What a haul! It'll be nice to shove this in Trudric's face."

"Will it, now?"

Then Gunner looked behind them to see three more fairies. One of them was the headmistress of the Royal Fairy Academy, Bloom. And she looked pissed.

Gunner cursed. Then, with a single clap of their hands, they vanished.

The six fairies stood around for a moment, seeming half convinced the wizard would return. When it became clear that they wouldn't, Bloom looked around. "Everyone okay?"

"Sore, but quite decent otherwise," Saf said, with Roxy groaning for emphasis.

Avi yawned. "Still sleepy. What happened? Who was she?"

"They," corrected Saf and Roxy in unison. Then Saf picked up. "Gunner. Like Trudric, another of the Apprentices. Unlike Trudric, not so easy to defeat."

"They're learning our tricks," said Lysis, frowning.

Standing across the restaurant, as far away as she could get, was a glasses-less Tora. Her hair was poofy and curled more than usual, and her pink, blue, and green shirt had long sleeves, despite also baring her midriff. A loose blue skirt and high heeled pink and green sandals somehow tied the odd look together… more than her personality-devoid wings, the standard model of the Earth Fairies. "Or else they're getting stronger," she suggested.

"They need something," said Roxy.

"They need magic," said Leilani, putting her head up. "They're trying to capture fairies, and not only that. I'm not a fairy, and they were trying to capture me. They wanted to make me a wizard, somehow."

"Leilani?" Bloom said. "Are you okay?"

Leilani nodded. "Yeah. In fact, I think I'm better. I think I need to fight."

"What can you do against them?" Avi asked sharply.

"I can learn," Leilani said. "I can study them and think about what is going on. I can strategize. I have a lot to offer." And though she would not admit it, something nagged at her. Magic could be part of that. Could she find the ritual that Gunner had mentioned? Could she use it for good?

Could Leilani Castro really have magic?

She turned to Bloom. "I'm ready to accept my position at the Royal Fairy Academy."

Bloom smiled. "That's what I hoped you would say."

* * *

The second day of class was, if anything, more eclectic than the first. With a college student added in, and one who didn't fit the normal class requirements, everything was even odder than before.

Leilani looked surprisingly good in her deep red cardigan, white polo, and black skirt. Her pink hair tie looked lovely in her dark hair, and she wore her emblem… a generic heart shape etched into the silver… as a pin. She also wore a pink armband that signified her position as the student president. "I wanted someone who was a leader, someone who was knowledgeable about fairies," Bloom said. "Leilani may not be a typical student, but I think between her bravery and her studying, she fits the bill."

Roxy and Avi had spent the night before trying to fit their magiphilosophy homework around the big battle, only to find out they had all been excused on account of extenuating circumstances. Avi, who true to her word had skipped the assignment, laughed.

It definitely was an odd day. As the week went on, however, the school settled into normalcy. Nobody expected for the PA system to crackle on during Monday morning English class.

"Will the Core Four report to the front of the school with their travel bags? There's a mission departure in sixty minutes. This is mandatory for all travel team members. Thank you," said the distorted voice of Bloom.

Roxy, Saf, and Avi jumped from their seats and raced to their dorm to grab their things. "This is sure to be interesting," Roxy said.

"Definitely," agreed Saf.

Avi grinned. "Let's go save some fairy and kick some Apprentice butt!"

Roxy checked her watch. Fifty-eight minutes until they were on the road.

She couldn't wait.


	9. Agrippine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected day away from the Royal Fairy Academy means different things for different people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning for suicidal thoughts/attempted suicide/amputation

All Amanda Gordon wanted was a break.

She wanted a break from the mountains, which were so high that they made her feel sick. From the humidity that did funny things to her hair. From the way that the name of her new town sounded like a rejected breakfast cereal. All she wanted was her old life back, and maybe a little less sunlight. It was getting in her eyes as she drove.

She got her wish. It just wasn't quite the way she expected to.

* * *

The best thing about being the only student in the Royal Fairy Academy was that if Leilani nicely requested an independent study period rather than her core "human" classes, the teachers were more than willing to comply; after all, it meant a day off for them. So Leilani headed to the large school library and savored some alone time.

The library was, according to Bloom, almost an exact copy of the lost Library of Alexandria… content-wise, anyway. The appearance was that of a normal school library, but there were scrolls and books on almost every topic, including fairy magic and wizardry.

The only major modification to school library design was the intricate pedestal near the circulation desk… a fairy card catalog which could find whatever book your heart desired. Luckily for Leilani, the device didn't run on the user's magic, but had magic of its own. That meant she was able to lay her hands on it and declare "I want to know how wizards become wizards."

There was a brief moment of nothing, then a large book flew to her, landing on the pedestal. It was open a little past the halfway point, open to what seemed to be a story. The heading was "The Story of Agrippine."

Leilani paused. She hadn't wanted story; she had wanted fact. Bloom had told her, however, that these sorts of things always had reason. If the library said you wanted a book, there was a ninety-nine percent chance it was what you wanted. Another point nine percent was dedicated to information you didn't think you wanted, but then you realized you did.

She sighed and began to read.

* * *

_In the time when fairies were only beginning to learn that their freedom was short-lived, there existed a young woman named Agrippine. Almost the last of her clan left alive or uncaptured, she cared for her younger half-brother, a human boy whose name remains lost to history. Both siblings were brave and strong, and they loved each other more than any other. This did not show signs of change… though Agrippine was of age to begin bearing children, she showed no interest in any man, nor any woman, that might lie with her._

_The siblings lived a magical life, though the boy showed no magic. Agrippine was a true fairy and warrior, and showed concern when her friends vanished one by one. Scared for the life of her younger brother, who was but nine summers old and unable to live alone, she too decided to vanish, but of her own will. The two found a cottage in the dead of the woods, where none would find them. As the boy was human, with a thirst for knowledge, he would walk two miles each day to attend school, but this was the only time either would leave their home._

_One day, the boy did not come home._

_Agrippine was full of grief. Of all the things she had expected to happen, she had never expected anything to happen to the last bit of her family. Only to her. After a night of mourning, she took a knife and began to sharpen it, intent on ending her life._

_As she pointed it to her breast, the door opened and her brother walked in in tears. Agrippine dropped the weapon and went to him, and he told his story._

_A fairy much like her was being dragged away by a band of wizards. Though she looked nothing like Agrippine, he could only see his sister in her, so stood up for her life and allowed her to escape as the wizards focused their attention on him. As one attacked him, his left ear was burned off by a bolt of magic. Seeing this, they subjected him to a strange ritual. His sacrifice became power, and he was bound to their clan. He had run off, but they were pursuing him. Only by his knowledge of the woods, bested not even by their best tracking spells, had he made it home before they caught him._

_Agrippine cursed. She knew that these were the kidnappers and killers of her kind, and that they had made her own brother irreversibly theirs. Her voice sharp, she ordered her brother to take her knife and cut off her fairy wings. Though reluctant, he did so, knowing that this action would make the clan he was bound to very proud and believing his sister was trying to die with honor._

_As the wings fell to the ground, she asked the boy to repeat the ritual._

_He understood, and he obliged._

_It was only minutes after the ceremony was completed that the pack of wizards showed up, having used magic to track the young boy. Though they had felt the presence of a fairy, it was no more. Instead, there stood two wizards of their clan, resigned to their fate, but not pleased with it._

_There is no more record to tell of their future, be that rejection, death, or acceptance, but the story of Agrippine… a tragedy of love and family… will live on as record in and of itself._

* * *

"What are you reading?"

Leilani jumped. Behind her, standing quietly, was Tora. She was about to shut the book, feeling guilty for wanting to know how to become a wizard, when the fairy of education peeked at the book's contents and smiled grimly. "I see. Agrippine's tale."

Leilani opened her mouth to beg for forgiveness, but Tora continued. "Did you know that's one of the most controversial tales in fairy literature? Do you want to talk about the story and its implications with me? I really like seeing what other people have to say about it."

There wasn't much of a way to say no. Leilani sat down at a nearby table, taking the book with her, and Tora sat across from her. "Do you think she did the right thing?" asked the teacher.

Leilani frowned. She hadn't even wondered. Whether or not Agrippine was right, the same results came, whatever those results were. "I don't know."

"Some say that she did as any fairy should. Love and family come first, and all fairies should try to live that. Our former queen, Morgana? She is almost the posterchild for that side of the debate. She found a way to balance her sister and her husband and daughter eventually, but there once was a time where she chose love over duty and family. Hers may have been an even harder choice than Agrippine's," laughed Tora. "I expect that one day fairies will study Morgana's decisions too."

"What's the other belief?"

Tora sobered. "Terrestrial fairies are known around the magical dimension as the most ruthless warriors. Anything that stands in our way should be destroyed. Queen Nebula was even willing to capture or murder her own sister and niece to win the war she'd been fighting for centuries. The fairies who believe Agrippine to be wrong say that she should have killed her brother and ran, or at the very least, she should have abandoned him. She wasn't driven enough to win. She was weak."

"She insisted her wings be cut off! She joined with the enemy, despite hating them!" exclaimed Leilani. "She was anything but weak."

"Yeah, I agree." Tora smiled slightly. "Maybe I believe in a little bit of both. To join with the enemy was wrong, but to run away? Isn't that just as pitiful? I don't think there was ever a right choice for poor Agrippine."

They sat in silence for a moment, then Leilani asked a question. "How do they know all of this, but not what happened next?"

"Someone used their Tracix powers to see the past. That's how we get a lot of our history recorded accurately. The Wizards of the Black Circle left the old hut where Agrippine and her brother lived before they chose what would happen; I think they said they were going to discuss and take a vote within the clan to decide how they would deal with the siblings. Since it happened elsewhere and we're not sure of the location, we can't really be sure what happened."

"What do you think happened?"

Tora thought. "She wouldn't be a fairy anymore, but they would probably know of her hatred… in other words, she wouldn't be someone they could use. I doubt she'd let her brother go with them, and she would fight to the death to be around him. So I'd chance that either they let the two go, or they're both dead."

Two different thoughts sprung up in her head at the same time. To think that there was a wizard who might hate what was happening to the fairies… to think that she might hate them with all her heart! That was someone Leilani wanted to meet. She wanted to know all of the things that wizard knew, and she wanted to convince the former fairy to fight.

To think she was dead, though? That was simply disheartening.

"Has anyone ever tried to find her?"

"Not recently. Back before the war's end, the view that she was a weak traitor was more popular than the view that she was a model of love. Fairies tried to hunt her down, but it was like she vanished. Magical beings don't die easily, so though death was always a possibility, it's no more likely than the idea that she and her brother have been hiding out somewhere for years."

That made Leilani feel better, but there was still something nagging on her mind. "Why do we not know the boy's name if they can just use powers to see the past? Surely Agrippine called him by name at some point."

"He's a man. Fairy history tends to not really care. I had a teacher, though, who was curious, so she went and used her powers on her own to find out. That's where the Wizards caught her, actually." Tora frowned. "I forget what she told me his name was."

Leilani rose and closed the book. "Thanks for telling me all that, Tora."

"No problem! As I said, I always love to talk about Agrippine." Tora stood and started out of the library, not before calling back, "If you ever want some really good recommendations for fairy literature, or just someone to talk to about it, I'm open."

"Will do. Thanks!"

Then Tora was gone, and Leilani stood, clutching the book in her hands.

Bloom was right. The library knew that she had wanted this, even though hadn't realized it herself.

* * *

It was raining when the Core Four entered Kamloops. In fact, it was storming.

"Can't you do anything about this, Saf?" exclaimed Avi. It was her turn to drive, and she was all but squinting just to see past the large droplets of water.

Saf shook her head. "I can keep lightning from striking us, but that's about it. I'm the fairy of lightning, not weather."

Avi cursed. "How much farther, Lysis?"

"We're two miles from the hotel."

"We are going to die before getting there."

"A car crash won't kill us," Lysis scoffed.

"It'll hurt though, won't it?" asked Roxy, not looking up from her cell phone. Saf glanced over to see her playing an anime rhythm game that looked horribly difficult, but she seemed to be doing a good job.

Lysis ducked her head. "Yes," she admitted.

"Okay then. Avi, please don't crash. I'm trying to get a full combo."

"Teenagers and their cell phones," muttered Lysis.

Avi sighed loudly. "Lysis! You're only five or six years older than we are!"

"Being trapped with all the elder fairies for ten years must have rubbed off on her," Saf suggested.

It was a good thing they were so close to their hotel. They had spent seven hours on a plane just to get to Gardenia. While they were there, they had quickly briefed Nebula on the status of the school and their current mission before using one of the cars available there to cross the country border into Canada. They had been on the road for almost a full day, switching drivers every few hours. Despite chances to sleep in the car, and stretching their legs at multiple rest stops, they were all getting quite cranky.

As they pulled into the hotel, Roxy wanted to immediately get out and stretch her legs, but doing that in pouring rain seemed like a really bad idea. "Do you think it's going to let up anytime soon, Lysis?" she asked.

"Saf should be able to tell you that," said the biology fairy with a yawn.

"Lysis, I just told Avi I was the fairy of…"

"Lightning. Which means you could sense how far the lightning goes, if you try."

Saf's mouth formed a little "o," then she closed it and her eyes in a look of concentration. "It goes for kilometers," she said eventually. "More than I can guess at. It'll probably be storming the entire time we're here. Even if it stops storming, the rain could go a lot farther than the lightning does."

"How long  _are_ we going to be here?" asked Roxy as she stretched. "And how are we going to find this fairy? Just wait for the Apprentices to show up again?"

A wicked grin spread along Lysis's face. She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small device. It looked like a modified Taser: a box, two metal prongs, and an on/off switch. When Lysis flipped it on, however, the prongs glowed grey. "Gunner seemed to be in such a hurry that they left their fairy tracker in the kitchen of the pizza parlor. Avi and I played around with it until we figured out how to make our magical signals immune to reacting to it. It can't trace any of us four."

"Which is not only great because it means we won't get in the way of finding new fairies, it also means that if Gunner gets their tracker back, they can't find us anymore. Even if they build a new one, it shouldn't work, provided they use the same basic plan," Avi added with a smirk. She raised a hand lazily, and Lysis high-fived her. Roxy was only slightly surprised; though the two didn't initially get along, Lysis's adoration of science and Avi's mastery of tools made a good combination that even they couldn't deny. "Now anyway, here's the plan. I'm pulling the car up to the door. You guys grab our bags and make a dash for it. Lysis, you check us in. I'll take the brunt of the sacrifice and park."

"Sounds good," Roxy said. She grabbed her own duffle bags and Lysis's suitcase; Saf picked up the belongings of herself and Avi. As soon as the car stopped in front of the door, they made a dash for it.

It only took ten steps to get into the hotel, but they were still soaked. It felt refreshing, though, just a bit. The teenagers laughed as they sat down and waited for Lysis to get their room key.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in their hotel room, ready for the mission briefing. Lysis was leading the conversation. "Nebula got us two very special papers. They allow us to bypass normal registration procedures just about anywhere."

"And that means?" asked Avi as she jumped on one of the two king-sized beds.

Lysis rolled her eyes. "It means that two of you are going undercover in one of the local secondary schools. I've pinpointed the place our fairy spends most of her day, and that would be it."

"Which two of us?" asked Roxy.

Lysis smiled. "That's up to you."

Roxy wasn't sure how she felt about making decisions. The whole thing still seemed like a bad idea; she was only in charge because she was a princess, it seemed. Lysis was just as powerful as she was; Saf and Avi were just as modern.

Even so, this was an easy decision. "Saf and I will go," said Roxy.

Avi breathed a sigh of relief as she bounced. "Thank god. I came here to get away from high school, not to go back in. I'm glad someone recognizes that."

Lysis smiled a little. "Okay. You two start tomorrow. Remember to have fun and find our fairy quickly, but you might not want to blow your cover."

"Why?" Saf asked. "What does it matter if people know we're fairies? I'll admit magic isn't commonplace yet, but neither is it unheard of."

"Without the tracking device, we're hoping they don't find anyone, but if Gunner had a backup then they'll know there's a fairy here. What they won't know is that we are, so we'll have surprise on our side. We need every advantage we can get."

"Do they get codenames?" asked Avi, finally jumping off the bed and onto the floor. "Man, now I wanna go. I want a codename."

"I think codenames would be too easy to trip up," said Saf. "If we messed up, it would draw more suspicion then if we went by our real names. Anyway, Roxy isn't uncommon as a name, and I don't think the Apprentices know who I am. Even if they've heard someone call me Saf, they're likely to assume it's short for Sapphire, not Safeyah. Almost everyone does."

"Good point," Lysis agreed. "We'll try to stick to real names in the future as well. All of us," she said with a pointed look towards Avi.

Avi laughed. "Maybe you shouldn't. I've heard of other Avalons, but never another Lysis. Don't you have any nicknames?"

Lysis blinked. "Lysis  _is_ my nickname. My full name is Lyriania Siciline."

There was a moment of dead, shocked silence before Roxy asked, "Really?"

"No." Lysis gave the smallest bit of a smile. "I was making a joke. Lysis is my full name, and yes, Avi, it's uncommon. It refers to the gradual decline of disease symptoms… my parents hoped I'd be a lucky charm against the Wizards."

Her smile grew, not just in size, but in grimness. "I wasn't much help against them, but maybe I can still do something about their Apprentices."

* * *

It was still raining that blessed, cleansing rain Amanda had hoped for when she entered her school the next day. Nobody paused to tell her "hello," or asked what she had done the previous night. At this point, she wasn't sure if it was because she was the new kid, or because nobody liked her. It had been a while since she moved from Slave Lake, but maybe not long enough to have any real friends.

Her fluffy light brown hair barely touched her shoulders as she moved down the hallway, and though they wouldn't speak to her, she could see other girls stare in obvious jealousy. The rain had flattened their hair. Hers looked like it had barely been touched, although small drops of water sparkled on each strand like dew. Amanda closed her grey eyes appreciatively for a moment. She wasn't typically pretty, with her chub and her curves, but man, did she have decent hair.

_Take that, every girl native to Kamloops! Hah!_

She hit the ground.

Opening her eyes, it took a moment to figure out what had happened. She was on the floor, lying on her back. On top of her was a pretty girl with dark brown skin and black hair. She looked embarrassed. "Oh my!" she exclaimed in a British accent. "I am so sorry! Please accept my apologies!"

"Of course," Amanda agreed. She didn't even have to think about that. The girl was super pretty; other flaws could be forgiven. As the girl stood, so too did Amanda. "I haven't seen you around here," she said, which was a very dumb thing upon immediate reflection. Her secondary school was the largest in Kamloops; she was sure she hadn't seen half the student body.

"I'm new," the girl said apologetically. "I was running to get to class and I didn't see you around the corner…"

"Relax, I'm new myself. I just moved here a few months ago. Where are you from?" Again, dumb. She was obviously British.

"Lately, the United States. Originally, Egypt."

Man, this girl kept surprising her. "Uh. What's your name?"

"Saf. Saf Hafeij."

"Nice to meet you, Saf! I'm Amanda Gordon. Now, where are you trying to go? I could help you get there, if you want."

Saf smiled. It was a lovely smile and Amanda felt a pang of what was either jealousy or admiration. "I'm looking to go to French."

"The regular class, or the immersion class?"

"The regular one, please."

Amanda pointed to a door only one down from where they were standing. "It's right there," she said, vaguely disappointed she didn't get to walk Saf to her class. It would have been nice to begin to form a friendship. Still, there would be other opportunities… or not. She could never see Saf again, and it would be totally plausible in a school as big as this one was.

Saf smiled that smile again and raced over to the door. "Thank you!" she cried over her shoulder.

Amanda stood there.  _I need to be that girl's friend._

When the bell rang, she looked at her feet as if blaming them for her lateness. Her feet, however, were not the only thing on the floor. A rounded smartphone in a blue case lay next to her shoe, and she picked it up. "This probably belongs to Saf," Amanda deduced aloud. "I can't go bursting into her class to give it to her. Maybe…" Maybe she would keep it. Not forever. Just to make sure she could see the girl again.

There was no passcode to the phone. She looked at the apps that were pulled up, just to see about clues on how to contact the girl. One such clue was a text app.

There was one new text, from a Roxy.  _Go ahead,_ it read.

Amanda clicked on the text to see the whole conversation. Just for context.

She almost dropped the phone again.

_Located the target, Amanda Gordon. Permission to intercept?_

 


	10. Wreck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When their mission goes terribly wrong, Roxy and Saf find themselves tracking down a wayward fairy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Car crashes, angst

"Dad, I'm telling you, someone's after me!" Amanda half-screeched, half whispered. She hoped he would believe her soon; the bathroom stall that she was hiding in in order to use her mobile phone was  _cramped._

On the other end of the line, a masculine voice sighed. "Amanda, this is a ridiculous way to try and skip school. Can't you just tell me you're sick like every other teenager?"

"Dad, I have proof, please just let me come home."

There was a pause, then, "Fine, but I better see this proof the moment you step into the door."

Amanda sighed in relief. "Thanks. I swear I'm telling the truth."

"You better hope so. See you soon, Amanda."

"Yeah, Dad. Be home in half an hour or so."

She ended the call and shoved her cell phone back into her messenger bag before exiting the stall. As she did, she saw a mirror. Her appearance, only an hour ago something she was proud of, now seemed sick and sallow. She half-laughed. She could have told her father she was ill. If she looked like this, he would have believed it.

She left the bathroom and signed out of the school; the office had no issue with that, so she supposed her father had already called them. Then, she stepped out into the rain. It had been storming for over two days now, and though it was better than burning sunlight, it wasn't exactly convenient. Amanda ran to her car with her jacket over her head as a shield. Around her, she heard fat raindrops splatter on the pavement of the parking lot, and thunder crash in the distance. It was a relief to get into her banged-up hand-me-down minivan.

Amanda started the van up and pulled out of the secondary school parking lot and onto the road. Her house was not horribly far away, but it required some careful driving; not easy in a storm like this. Normally, she liked to listen to a CD as she made her way home, but between her frantic thoughts and the rain, it seemed like a bad idea to have any distractions.

She hoped for the best as she started up one of the many mountain roads in her town.

* * *

"Where's Amanda?" asked Roxy.

Saf frowned. "I don't know. I dropped my mobile hoping she'd return it. Come to think of things, though, I've not even spotted her since I found her the first time, and that was what? Two hours ago?"

"I think." Roxy checked her watch. "Yeah."

"Maybe we'll see her at lunch," Saf suggested.

"Probably… I was kinda hoping we'd have found some way to talk to her by now."

"Are you getting impatient?" Saf teased.

Roxy frowned. "It's been months since I've been in a regular high school," she explained. "Even with my normal classes at the Royal Fairy Academy, I'm behind. I can't say I missed high school, either, so it isn't so much fun to be here."

"You could have let Avi come instead."

A vision of Avi sneaking up behind the new fairy, grabbing her, and screaming "GUESS WHAT? YOU HAVE MAGIC!" made its way into Roxy's head. "No," she said to Saf. "No, I really couldn't."

Saf frowned, then nodded. Roxy decided she had probably imagined a similar situation. "I can see your point."

"Anyway, I think maybe it's time for drastic measures."

"I'm supposed to be in my maths class right now, so let's make this quick. Are you going to use the fairy tracker?"

"Not yet," said Roxy with a smile. "I'm going to call your cell phone."

* * *

From one of Amanda's cupholders, a song began to play loudly and obnoxiously. Saf's cell phone, she realized.

She wasn't sure what to do. She was driving on the mountain in the pouring rain. The music was breaking her concentration, but turning it off was sure to be just as bad, if not worse, consequence-wise. She toyed with both options for a few seconds before deciding to ignore it as best as she could.

The music stopped, and Amanda sighed in relief. She briefly glanced down at the phone gratefully, then back to the road.

What road?

She felt the bump of rocks underneath her as the car rolled towards the oncoming cliff. Other mountains, only barely seen through thick rain, loomed in the distance, haughty and cold, as if to say "we knew this would happen eventually." Amanda slammed on the breaks with all the force of her large, strong body, hoping it would be enough.

The car skidded, and Amanda was thrown back into her seat. Immediately, she felt a pain in her back and grimaced.

She had a couple seconds to assess the situation. The car was definitely falling off the cliff, and the breaks likely wouldn't hold against the slope, the unsteady rocks, and the water for too much longer. Her only logical hope was to get out of the car, and do it quickly. Her breath seemed to almost stutter as she choked on emotion. It was her only hope, yet it was almost impossible.

The other option was death.

Quickly, but with an unsteady hand, she unbuckled her seat belt. As the car started to slip slowly down, she opened the door. "It's going to roll as soon as I release the breaks. I need to jump the second I do," she said aloud, as if spoken word would convince her.

She moved her foot from the break.

Amanda started to jump, but caught herself as she noticed the way the car was moving. The driver's side was facing down to the cliff. If she jumped now, she'd be crushed by the vehicle she was trying to escape.

No hope.

The vehicle tumbled off the side and almost did a 360 in the air. As Amanda waited to die, she saw a flash of light surrounding her.

At least she could pay attention to that, and not what it felt like to splatter on the rocks below.

* * *

Roxy and Saf stared at the phone as it rang, only looking away when it came to voicemail. "Okay," said Roxy. "Now we use the fairy tracker."

They had been standing in an abandoned hallway, but they moved to the bathroom for the next part. A cell phone was just a cell phone. The fairy tracker that Gunner had built, however, looked like a weapon, something that should not belong in a school. Metal prongs stuck out of a hand-sized black box, almost like a taser. The girls stood in the corner of the girls' bathroom, shielding it from view, as they turned it on.

The metal prongs glowed silvery grey. The glow on the left prong was stronger than the glow on the right. It led out the door. "I think we need to follow it," said Roxy.

"That might be an issue in a school," Saf noted. "You cannot exactly walk around with a weapon out and open."

"Yeah." Roxy thought. "One of needs to scout ahead and cause distractions as necessary."

"I can do that."

"Sounds good."

Despite their careful planning, the way that the tracker led them was abandoned. They saw no one, not even a small bug, and soon found themselves at the backdoor of the school. "She left?" exclaimed Roxy.

"I'd say so, if the tracker's to be believed."

Roxy sighed, and opened the door.

Sirens wailed.

"Crap!" Roxy exclaimed. "That was probably the emergency exit."

"I'd say so!" Saf yelled over the blare of the alarm. "What now?"

"We run for it! I don't want to explain why we were sneaking out of the school!"

Saf nodded, and the girls raced into the rainstorm, heading for their car, just across the lot that the backdoor opened up onto. Around them, they could see students filing out from other doors. The two hopped into the car and Roxy quickly started it up, pulling out of the property as quickly as she could.

"Man," she said as they were on the road, "That would have been super awkward. With the rain, it's going to be obvious that it wasn't a real fire… no way could one survive in this weather."

"How likely is it that they figure out we're the ones who did it?"

"Considering that we're going to be the ones not accounted for? Very, very likely."

"Bugger."

* * *

She floated above the ruins of her minivan, smelling coolant, smoke, gasoline... it seemed even the continuing rain could not quell the fire of the van's explosion. Despite everything, Amanda felt calm, painless.

Dead.

Even the height, normally something she was instinctively afraid of, didn't bug her much. Experimentally, she willed herself to lift. It happened with ease. Left, right, front, back, up, down. She tried it all; it was all easy. Being a ghost didn't require a lot of effort, and there was no learning curve.

She floated away from the car, still in an almost trance-like calm. She might as well go back to the road she had lost so many seconds ago. How long had it been? No more than five, six minutes. Everything had happened so quickly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that her body was kind of sparkly and grey. Weird. She'd always imagined that if she was a ghost, she'd look the same to herself, even if she looked different (or even invisible) to others. She shrugged it off and found the road, deciding to land there. For a moment, she worried she'd go right through the pavement, but she felt the solidness of the ground beneath her feet as she landed.

For a moment, she stood there, not talking, moving, or even thinking.

Then, everything hit her.

It hit her how she'd never be able to prove her honesty to her dad. It hit her that she'd never see her mother, little brother, or cat ever again. It hit her that she'd never be able to  _explain_  to Sir Fluffybutt that she would never see him again… at least her human family would understand, but a cat? He'd never forgive her.

Amanda thought about the kids at school who barely knew her and would barely mourn; the colleges she'd never get to attend; the spouse she would never get to meet. She thought about how she would never have a real job, or nieces and nephews, or be an old woman who could yell at kids to get off her lawn.

Then she thought that she was lucky she never wanted kids. Now she'd never have any.

Somehow, that almost joking thought was the one that broke her. She choked out a sob and tears began to roll, quicker than she'd ever experienced before.

_I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, and there is so much I'll miss._

_I'm not just dead._

_I'm a teenage death, a car crash death. A statistic. My parents will speak out about me, and people will listen. "It's horrible, what happened to Amanda," they'll say, and then they'll forget about me. Just a posterchild death, nobody important. Nothing that hasn't happened before._

She fell to her knees.  _Not even good enough to pass on to an afterlife. Not even good enough for anyone but my family to mourn. What have I done? I lived a normal life, and then I moved here after the fire, and what did I do here? Hated Kamloops. Thought bad things about all the girls at school. Didn't try hard enough to make friends._

_Wasn't I good enough?_

_No, I know that answer. I wasn't._

For a moment, she sat on the side of the road, curled into a ball. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore, until her cheeks were sticky with water and salt. Then, she sat in silence, unsure of what to do next.

* * *

"What way do I turn?"

"Right," Saf said with confidence, and Roxy obliged. Saf looked down at the tracker to see that both prongs were glowing steadily. "I'd chance we're almost there," she said. "The glow is strong enough that it's almost connecting both prongs."

"That's supposed to happen when we're like five feet away. I think." Roxy frowned. "Lysis taught me how to use it, but she used so much jargon I could barely understand. Avi wasn't much better."

"She wouldn't be. Before starting at the Royal Fairy Academy, she worked at her father's hardware store. She grew up around repairs and tools." Saf frowned thoughtfully. "Actually, that does beg a question. Did she become fairy of tools because that's what she knows? Or was it simply coincidental?"

"I'm not sure," Roxy admitted. "Lysis is probably the fairy to ask. Which way now?"

"Keep going straight."

They had drove only a minute longer when Saf grinned. "I see her!" she said. "Just a little ahead."

"Yeah, I see her too! At least, I think that's her. I can't see her face."

"The tracker seems to agree with us. I'd say we're correct."

"Why are her wings out?"

Saf squinted through the rain and saw that Roxy was right. On Amanda's back were sheer silver-grey wings that looked like someone made them out of storm clouds. Her body was curled into a ball and covered with dark grey sparkly fabric, almost more like a robe than a dress. It cascaded onto the ground around her, making Saf think it was knee-length or even ankle-length when she was standing.

Roxy parked the car on the side of the road, about twenty feet from the girl, and both she and Saf vacated the vehicle, shivering under the cold raindrops that immediately soaked both girls.. "Amanda?" Roxy called out tentatively.

Amanda looked up. "Oh, great," she muttered, her voice sounding sore and choked. "They've started looking for me now. Well, my body's down off the cliff. Not that you can hear me."

"I can hear you just fine," Roxy said, puzzled.

Amanda jumped up. "Wait, you can hear me?"

"…yes?"

"And see me?"

"Very clearly."

"You must be a… a…"

"A fairy?"

"Are you?" asked Amanda. "I thought you were a medium."

Saf frowned. "Amanda, could you tell us what is going on?"

For the first time, Amanda looked over at Saf. Her eyes, smudged black from ruined mascara, narrowed. "It's you!" She didn't sound happy; in fact, she sounded angry.

"What?"

"You killed me!" Amanda snapped. "If it wasn't for you and your phone, I wouldn't have died."

"Whoa, hold up," Roxy ordered. "Start from the beginning."

"And I bet you're Roxy!" Amanda shot.

"Yeah. I am. And?"

"You were in on it! Oh man, if I meet someone else who can talk to ghosts, I'll tell them what you did. You two are getting  _so arrested!_ "

"Can you just tell us what happened?" cried Roxy, her voice confused and distressed.

Amanda glared, but began to tell the story. "This Saf girl dropped her phone after rudely running into me this morning." She pointed at Saf for good measure. "Don't ask for it back, by the way. I was driving home and it began to ring. It distracted me. I crashed my car off of the mountain. I died. Now I'm here."

"But how's it our fault? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Aren't you?" retaliated Amanda.

"Yes, but we were looking for you!"

"To kill me! At least I beat you to the punch."

"What?"

"Saf's phone said I was a target!"

Saf and Roxy couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah," Roxy said eventually. "A target to protect. You're a fairy. We needed to get to you before anyone else did, so that you would be safe."

Amanda looked at them suspiciously, and Roxy sighed. "You aren't a ghost. Check over your shoulder." The curvy girl looked back and cursed. Roxy smirked. "Told you. You're a fairy. We're trying to protect you. Now, do you want a ride home? We're going to have to talk to your parents about this."

Amanda looked wary, but nodded. "If you try anything funny, I'll jump out of the car," she warned. "I've already almost died once today; I'm much less reluctant about trying it again."

"Duly noted," said Saf.

* * *

Explaining her newfound fairyhood to her dad was easier than Amanda expected.

"…so yes, the message we sent might have been read as threatening," Roxy explained to Mr. Gordon. "She wasn't intended to read it, but still, we'll take full blame. In addition, the royal family of Tir Nan Og is more than happy to pay the full price of a new car, as well as a large allowance for trauma. We would also like to extend a full scholarship to the Royal Fairy Academy, our most prestigious fairy school."

Amanda almost smirked. Most prestigious? Roxy and Saf had explained on the way that it was the Earth's only fairy school, not to mention a requirement of any underage fairy. Even if Dad said no, they would press, even giving a royal order if they had to.

Mr. Gordon turned to his daughter. "All that is up to Amanda. Mandy, you're seventeen, and the car belonged to you. This is your life; I won't begrudge either choice."

Amanda didn't have to think. She'd already thought in the car. "I'll happily go to the school. As for money, I do want a new car, so I'll take that. No trauma money, though." She almost regretted saying that, but she decided it was more important to be gracious than rich.

"Oh, we insist on at least a little," Roxy said. "We can take it down some, if it makes you uncomfortable. At least accept ten thousand American dollars."

Amanda had to stop her jaw from falling open. How much was the _large_  amount? Though part of her knew that what Roxy offered wasn't all that much in the long run, she'd never so much as had  _one_  thousand in her junior bank account at any one time. "Okay, if you insist," she said, her voice wavering in amazement.

"Great!" said Roxy enthusiastically. "We'll leave for Harrisburg tomorrow, if that gives you enough time to pack and be ready. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

Roxy and Saf stood, and Roxy… a princess, despite her looks… curtseyed smoothly. "We'll be by to pick you up at five in the evening tomorrow. Have a good day, Amanda."

"You too," said the new fairy, still kind of in shock.

* * *

A week after they left Harrisburg, they returned. This time, plus one.

Amanda had never been in the United States before, though didn't seem so impressed with it. Saf heard her mutter, "it's just a more backwards Canada" when Avi showed off many landmarks on their way to the school.

As the airplane drew close to Harrisburg, Amanda chanced a panicked glance downwards. She didn't like flying and had avoided looking out the windows, but Saf supposed the curiosity was too much. As she looked down, she cursed.

"What?" asked Lysis. "Fear of heights again?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

Amanda sighed. "Nobody told me that Harrisburg had mountains, too!"

Roxy and Saf couldn't help but laugh at that, and though at first she threw a mean glance their way, eventually Amanda joined in.


	11. Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Identities are confused and lies are uncovered as the Royal Fairy Academy's classes resume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: death mentions, use of force

"The important thing to remember with any magic is visualization."

Marea Rio opened one brown eye to look at her best friend. "I'm trying, really, I am."

Though Marea was looking at Clara, Clara was not looking at her. Blonde, blue-eyed, and obviously not native to Mexico, Clara de Luz was staring at Marea's hair. A smile stretched across her heart-shaped face. "I can tell," she said. She reached into her purse and found a mirror, offering it out.

Marea took it and looked at her reflection. " _¡A huevo!_ " she exclaimed. _Hell yeah!_ Her hair, normally dark brown, was now a vivid red. "I can't believe I did it!"

Clara grinned. "I can believe it. I've known your magic was strong since I came here."

"From another planet," Marea said in wonder.

Clara nodded.

Marea was never quite sure how to react to Clara's claims. According to her, her real name was Light. According to her, she was nobility from a far off planet called Solaria, where magic was everywhere and teenage girls were all fairy tale characters. Hers was a world of fantastic spells, arranged marriages, amazing creatures, and royalty at every turn. It was much different than the world Marea knew, though about equally as fantastic… her family owned a quaint little inn that tourists seemed to adore, and were quite well off compared to the rest of Marea's friends.

"You never told me, Clara. Why did you leave?"

Clara sighed. "Mama and Papa, a lady and a lord of Solaria, decided that since I had no interest in attending Alfea, the fairy school, I should be wed immediately. Of course, all the good boys need time to prepare to court. The only one of proper blood who even tried to woo me was awful. So I ran away to Earth, say, four or so months ago now? Right after your fairies got freed. Had to wait for it to be safe again."

"Do you ever think of going back?"

"I've been here over one hundred days, and I've never even tried. What's waiting for me at home but dumb marriage and parents who are going to be so mad when they find out where I am?"

"But don't you miss them?"

"Not really." Marea opened her mouth to ask another question, but Clara cut her off. "Hey, now that you know basic metamorphosymbiosis, I bet you can try transforming and growing wings!"

Marea's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, really!" Clara laughed and disappeared into a fountain of yellow light. When she emerged, she was in a sparkly outfit with translucent wings on her back. "See? Easy! No big deal for a fairy like you, Agua!"

Marea got caught up in the happiness and laughter as Clara used her nickname. "Yeah, Light, no big deal!"

Neither of them saw the eyes watching them, the sharp eyes of the red-tailed hawk perched on the building that they gathered next to.

* * *

"Knock, knock! Time to rise and shine!" said a voice that was almost British, but not quite.

Amanda Gordon glanced at the door that led from her two-person dorm room to the halls of the Royal Fairy Academy. Then, she grumbled, put her pillow over her head, and tried to go back to sleep.

"You're going to miss breakfast!" said another voice, which like the first came from the hall. This one was high and determined, the voice of someone with a lot to prove, but trust in her own abilities.

"I have snacks in my room!" Amanda shouted back as she rolled to face the wall.

"Can we bust the door down, Leilani?" asked a rougher, overly-excited voice. Amanda thought about its owner, who was basically a puppy trapped in the body of a mechanic, and decided the voice fit.

"No, we can't!" This voice was low and mature, and definitely belonged to the president of the student body. Amanda wouldn't have needed a name to tell her that. "Definitely against the rules."

"Then how do we get her up?" asked the first voice… Safeyah Hafeij's voice.

"Hang on," said the second person. "I have an idea."

There was a flash of green magic that leaked through the cracks in Amanda's door, strong enough that she could see the light even with her pillow over her eyes.

Then, Amanda's cat, Sir Fluffybutt, jumped up onto the pillow… and consequently, Amanda's face. "Those girls are right," he said. "You really need to get up. See, my food bowl is empty, and I haven't been pet in over eight hours. While I have you here, if you'll direct your attention to your desk, I caught three stinkbugs and killed them. Now you can have breakfast, too. I hear they're in season, and I enjoy them very much, though I can't say much for the smell…"

"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up!" Amanda shouted as she picked up her cat and put him on the floor, to some amount of protest. "Roxy, that was a cheap tactic!"

The four girls outside of her door giggled. "It worked, didn't it?" said Roxy.

Amanda refilled her cat's food and pulled a sky-blue cardigan, white polo shirt, black skirt, and white tights from her dresser. After slipping all of them on, she wrapped her pink tie around her waist. It promptly became a belt. Within three minutes, she was out the door and ready to go.

Her new friends stood there smiling, still amused by the morning's antics. Each wore her own uniform a little different: Avi used her tie as an actual tie and preferred pants, while Roxy and Saf both had a sailor uniform-esque bow around their necks. While Saf and Avi both had the same blue cardigan as Amanda did, Roxy's was purple… testament to her more advanced magic skill… and Leilani's was the college wine red, worn over a dress rather than pants or skirt. Her tie kept silky black hair out of her eyes.

That was it. There were no more students at the Royal Fairy Academy. Only the five who stood in the dorm corridor. "You know," said Amanda thoughtfully, "once I read a book about psychics who went to a school about as small as this."

"Oh?" asked Leilani.

"Yeah, and it was creepy. I hope we get more girls soon."

Everyone looked to Roxy. Leilani was the student president, but Roxy was the princess of the Earth fairies, and that did rank a little higher. She also had natural leadership qualities, and though she denied them, Amanda had seen them in action.

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "Hey, we're getting stuff on the fairy tracker, but it's still kind of shaky. After all, Lysis has to put in the data of every fairy that we already know about before we can start to track down the fairies we don't."

"How many fairies do we know about?" asked Saf.

"Not counting us? There are about a thousand."

The number seemed simultaneously large and small. It was smaller than most cities, small to be a species. If fairies were animals, they would probably be considered endangered. Still, one thousand fairies… one thousand powerful women who could kill with a word… and Amanda was one of them. She shuddered. "Wow," she said.

"I think the exact number is one thousand, three hundred twenty-two. That's not counting Bloom, since she's Dominon and not Terrestrial, or any of you, since you've been found since the last census. It counts me, though. So adding for everyone else, there are one thousand, three hundred twenty-seven fairies that we know about on Earth." Roxy grinned.

"Wow," repeated Amanda.

"Hey, so what about breakfast?" Avi said. "It's great to talk numbers and stuff, but I am _starving,_ and I heard that Tora was making bacon today."

"Oh, that's going to convince me to get going. It's not like I don't eat meat or anything," Roxy quipped sarcastically.

Amanda laughed. Roxy didn't strike her as the kind of girl who would be a vegetarian, but she supposed that when you were the fairy of animals, it would feel kind of sick to try to eat one.

"Pancakes too," Avi added with a smirk.

"Okay," Roxy said. "I'm there. Let's go!"

The five girls headed downstairs to the cafeteria, but Amanda felt a pang of discomfort. It would be just as empty as the dorm.

The Royal Fairy Academy wasn't the school she had been promised, not yet. For now, it was just a building with a few kids, desperate to learn. Amanda wasn't sure how she felt about that.

* * *

It had taken some doing, but Leilani convinced Bloom to let her skip all of her "normal" classes for the rest of her time at the Royal Fairy Academy. She had already gotten her gen eds out of the way; now she was just doing major work. Bloom didn't have the resources to give her a super well-rounded education yet, so adaptions were made. For half of the morning, when the others worked on English and math, she was video-linked to Alfea's Magical Theory and Etiquette classes. Then, she had a free study period in the library. Finally, she would meet back with her friends for history, though had a tendency to zone out on the human stuff.

Her study period was the best part of the day. She had kept the book with Agrippine's story; it was thick, full of magical history, and she found herself wanting to know more. Luckily, the book was full of almost every major event in Earth's fairy history, and despite its original claims that nothing more was known of Agrippine and her brother, it soon contradicted itself.

She reread the story… the clue… that Monday morning that Amanda had her first class.

* * *

_Long ago, when fairies were half gone and growing scarcer and scarcer with each passing day, there lived a fairy of life named Leira. Fascinated as she was with the problems of her people and the history that led to such problems, she came up with a solution. She would find Agrippine, an enemy who once was an ally, and who might be convinced to become one again. Leira knew that despite the pain of losing one's wings, such limbs could grow back. She believed that the sacrifice of Agrippine, the one that caused her to be shamed within the fairy world, could be reversed. She believed the fairy could return, perhaps not a hero, but no longer a pariah._

_To the fairy queen Morgana, Leira took her idea, though not in detail. "Let me search for Agrippine," she begged. "Let me find her and speak to her, so that she may be our enemy no longer."_

_Morgana misunderstood Leira's intentions. "I grant you permission. Bring me her head so I may know you have succeeded, young fairy."_

_Leira was horrified, but the Terrestrial fairies were in a time of war. She did not dare contradict her queen; neither did she intend to follow through. Without a spoken answer, Leira curtseyed and returned to her home to think._

_After contemplation, recorded in her personal journal, Leira knew what she must do. She would find Agrippine and speak to her. She would convince her to become a fairy once again. Then, she would return to Morgana. The queen would not be happy, but she would give in. No fairy would kill another except in times of great distress, and Leira did not believe the distress to be great enough._

_She journeyed far and wide, across the world, the only fairy at that time who actively searched for wizards rather than avoiding them. She paused only to study, and after five years, even managed to create the first device that could track a magical signal. After twelve years of searching, at last she came upon her target, Agrippine Octavia, former fairy of chemistry._

_What happened then was a mystery. Leira's journal claimed a sad, charming, intelligent and lonely woman who found pleasure in the fairy's company. After that, the journal entries ceased until five years later, in a different hand, there came to be one more._

" _Dead. I did not wish this, nor did I plan for it. Again we rest alone, my dear."_

_Tracix fairies attempted to see the events that unfolded, but the journal had been hidden far from the actual events. And thus, those five years of Leira's life remain a mystery, with only one result. Agrippine, decided as a killer of fairies, was hunted ever harder, though to no avail, and such, Leira became a tragedy of trusting too much._

* * *

"You really like that book, huh?"

For the second time, Leilani looked up to see Tora. "Yeah. Agrippine's fascinating."

"If you think so, I have a book just about her story that you can borrow. Might be easier than digging through that tome."

Leilani nodded. "I'd like that. Also, I have, uh, a question. You said that your teacher went to Agrippine's home. Where is that?"

"It was in Italy, and the forest around it is gone. The house still stands. It must be enchanted, for nobody can destroy it." Tora smiled grimly. "Fairies have tried, not just humans. We've tried to destroy it to punish her."

"I want to go see it, someday," Leilani decided.

"Maybe you can." Tora smiled. "It isn't exactly fair that the travel team can jet off whenever and our student president can't."

Leilani looked at her feet. Tora was pretty cool, for someone who was her age. Even being one of the younger fairies, she was still much older than everyone else at RFA. She was just barely younger than twice Saf and Avi's age.

Despite being thirty, Tora had some immature tendencies. Half the time, Leilani suspected her of trying to show Lysis up. She had heard about the two teachers' history and the bad blood between them, but there was a horrible lack of details. For Leilani, whose curiosity knew no bounds, this was a nightmare of a situation.

"Did you really date Lysis before?" she blurted out, the thought in her mind passing all the censors of her mouth somehow.

Tora smiled. "Yes, up until about four months ago."

"And then, when the fairies were free, you just left?"

Tora's smile became a frown. "Well… I wouldn't put it that way." Leilani waited. Tora sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. "I told you, Agrippine fascinates me as well."

_This is about Agrippine?_

"I spent fifteen years trapped in Tir Nan Og; the wizards found me when I was fourteen. The older fairies did their best to find a tutor for the fairies trapped as kids, so that we wouldn't be illiterate or unable to use our powers if… I mean, when… we were freed. For me, a fairy of education, it was more important than usual."

Tora smiled as she reminisced. "Then Historia said she wanted to teach me. She was the fairy of history and a scholar for the queen; in fact, it was she who wrote the book you hold!" Leilani blinked in wonder. "Our lessons were more or less storytime. Of course, I excelled in all subjects, my powers made sure of that. I never forget anything, and I can speak any language I've heard even a single word in fluently. Historia, however, made sure history was my favorite, and she did well. As I learned more and more from her, however, I grew increasingly annoyed by what she forgot. Just because I remember everything doesn't mean that every fairy does, after all."

"By the time I had learned everything Historia had to offer, I was twenty-eight, and still with many questions. At the time, I was dating Lysis. She called me obsessed, too curious for my own good. Historia agreed. Both of them were such one-subject fairies, with specializations too narrow to truly understand. They stick to what they know. But I'm all but limitless, all but immortal, and I want to know. Everything!"

Leilani was almost scared of the fire in Tora's eyes. There was a passion in the brown that reminded her of a flame. It could burn… it did burn… anyone who got too close.

"Historia died weeks before we were released. Don't ask how. I don't want to find out, ever. It's the one thing I don't think I could bear to learn. Despite how we had grown apart since I admitted my desire to find out everything about Agrippine, I still mourned. I still do." She hung her head, and for a moment, she was silent. When she continued her story, her voice was softer and slower, her eyes cooler. "And when we were freed, I fought beside Lysis for our vengeance, and as soon as that ended, I bid her goodbye and went to find some answers of my own. I would have taken her, but she would have criticized every step of the way. I couldn't have stood it. At that point, all I had was my hurt and my drive."

Tora stood up again. "But the thing is? Every time she looks at me like she hates me, it hurts. So maybe I could just never win. And I love the girl a lot, but she doesn't forgive, so it's best for both of us that I just keep my distance."

Leilani frowned. "Even if you know she won't accept, isn't it better if you apologize? At least you'll feel better, and you can tell yourself you did the right thing."

Tora laughed a short, sarcastic laugh. "I don't deserve to be in the right here. I screwed up, and I'll take the pain from it. Anyway, I shouldn't have burdened you with that. I'll find that book on Agrippine and get it to you, okay?"

"Okay," said Leilani dumbly.

As Tora left the library, the student president thought about what she had been told.

Then, a thought flashed into her mind. Maybe it was a result of loving to play mystery games; maybe it was just intuition. Either way, she knew it was true.

_Contradiction._

* * *

"So, where are you sleeping tonight?" asked Marea. "I hear it's going to rain."

Clara smiled. "Don't you worry about me. There's a park with a nice open gazebo!"

"You can always come back to my house, you know."

"And then you can have all the fun of explaining who I am to your parents, the infamously strict and controlling Ana and Jose Rio."

Marea protested. "They aren't that bad!"

"That's not what you say every other day!" Clara teased. She let her hair turn Marea's natural color of brown, her eyes become dark. "My name is Marea Rio, and my parents never let me have fun!"

"Hey!" protested the real Marea.

"They never let me have any fun, and if they ever met you, Clara, nobility from the world of Solaria, they would blow a gasket and send me to the nuthouse!"

"Wait a moment!"

"All day, it's 'Marea, Marea, Marea, concentrate on your grades so you don't end up drug dealing in the streets! Marea, find yourself a good man!' How hard it is to be Marea Rio!"

"I can't believe you're really…"

Clara pointed at her friend. "And do you, Lady Light, dare to insult my parents? Don't worry, they aren't _that_ bad!"

From around the corner, Marea heard a deep laugh. "Um, friend…"

Clara continued. "My parents are just controlling, unwelcoming, and altogether…"

"Human parents, of course," said a new, low voice.

Both girls looked over the the corner where the voice came from. A man stood there. His pale skin and silver hair already stood out, but the strangest part of his appearance were his eyes, shifting every color that Marea had ever seen. Perched on his shoulder was a red-tailed hawk. He chuckled darkly. "Of course, my dear, you're used to them," he said, walking forward and ruffling Clara's hair. "For so long, you were human yourself."

"What?" Clara snapped.

He ignored her and walked up to Marea. "Now you, on the other hand… Lady Light of Solaria, I presume?"

Marea was too scared to respond. Clara, behind the man, snapped. "No, that's not her. I'm the girl you're looking for, Clara!"

"Good to know," said the man without looking back. "I heard you call yourself Marea, and even if you weren't her, I wasn't looking for a Clara, not yet, anyway. Maybe once I deal with this pest I can find some Earth fairies. You see, we thought we had gotten rid of all foreign fairies from this planet, but apparently we missed one. So we'll just be taking Light here and sending her back where she came from."

Marea whimpered, and the man smiled, almost reassuringly. "Oh, look on the bright side, kid. At least there are no more Earth parents to deal with now."

He grabbed her by the hair and grinned. "Goodbye, Clara. See you soon," he hissed, and then Marea was pulled into a black hole.

* * *

Lady Light of Solaria freaked out.

She hadn't wanted to admit how bad her situation was, not when Marea was so concerned. She hadn't wanted to admit there was no park with a gazebo, or that she really did miss her home. She hadn't wanted to admit she was tired of sneaking around, knowing that she was an Earth imposter, and that if the queen of Earth knew about her, she might be deported back to Solaria (which as much as she missed the sunny planet, she really didn't want).

Now her friend was captured and in danger, and she had no idea what to do, not if that creep refused to believe that she was the real Lady Light.

There seemed to be only three options, and both seemed equally bad. She could go home to Solaria, and if Marea somehow made her way there, she'd be able to meet her. Still, what was the likelihood that Marea would get to Solaria without someone realizing she was Terrestrial? She could track down the wizards, but she had no clue where they were or what they would do.

That left going to Queen Nebula of Tir Nan Og, throwing herself on the royal's mercy and begging for help. Asking for help to save a fairy that most people thought to be human from a woman who infamously hated humans.

It was a terrible idea, and yet, the best of the three.

She pulled a necklace from under her shirt, a silver piece with the symbol of Solaria on it. It was a knockoff version of the ring Princess Stella used to wear, popular with Solarian teenagers. Not as powerful, no, but powerful enough to get her where she needed to go.

Light clutched it tight in both hands. " _Transportus a Palace_ ," she whispered.

In a flash, as quick as her best friend had disappeared, so too did she, hoping all the while that Queen Nebula wouldn't kill her the moment she materialized inside the Tir Nan Og throne room.


	12. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In pursuit of her kidnapped best friend, Lady Light will do just about anything… even if it means bewitching a few new friends in the process.

"Queen Nebula! Queen Nebula!"

Nebula narrowed her eyes. She had been trying to spend some time alone with her books, something that she rarely managed to do since becoming the leader of the Terrestrial fairies. Though she knew that Secretaria and Maydelle, her handmaidens, would only bother her if something was terribly important, it was still an unwelcome interruption.

She sat down the novel she had been reading and threw open the doors to her chambers. Sure enough, Taria and May stood there, neither looking like they had wanted to be there. Nebula tried to smile. She had a reputation for rash behavior, she knew. Best to try to convince her servants that she wouldn't hurt them. "What's the matter, you two?" she asked softly, hoping her tone of voice would come across as nonthreatening.

Taria and May looked at each other, and May spoke first. "Your majesty, there is a visitor for you in the throne room. She claims to be from Solaria."

Nebula blinked. "That's impossible. There are no fairies but Bloom and my own Earth fairies on this planet."

"Because of the barrier," Taria said. "The barrier would lock anyone out who tried to come in. She came in before the barrier went up. In fact, she didn't even know about the barrier until we told her, but she claimed to have come to Earth about four months ago. We know the wall wasn't up then because Princess Aisha of Andros took the news of her suitor's death to her family personally and managed to return. A Solarian fairy could have entered our world easily back then."

"What's her motivation?" Nebula demanded. "Why does she only now reveal herself?"

May shrugged. "She demands to speak with you, or any other Major Fairy. She is from the nobility and wishes to converse with others of her status, she says."

For a moment, Nebula considered delegating the task of speaking to the visitor to one of her friends, also nobility. Diana? No, she was far away in South America. Sibylla? No, she'd never do for a situation like this. Aurora? Getting her to do anything she didn't want to do was almost impossible.

Morgana was a decent choice, but too forgiving, much like Nebula (always acutely aware of her own flaws) was too harsh. The best idea would likely be for them to go together. "Fetch my sister," she ordered. "I'll meet her in the throne room."

The two scurried off, and Nebula sighed. There was one other person she needed to contact. Taking out the white cell phone her niece got her, she pressed the combination of buttons that led to Bloom.

The young Dominon princess picked up quickly. "Nebula?"

"Yes. We have a bit of a situation. There's a fairy here who claims to be nonterrestrial."

"What?"

"In fact, she claims to be Solarian. Is there any way that you can get your friend Stella to contact us so we may confirm or deny this girl's identity?"

"Yeah," Bloom said. "I'll have her call you over the computer. Your tech department should be able to help you receive her call."

"Thank you. In addition, is there some way you can also show up on one of the screens?"

Nebula could almost hear Bloom's grin. "That's no problem. When do you need us?"

"In ten minutes or so."

"Got it. See you then."

"Of course."

* * *

Twelve minutes later, the princess of Solaria nodded confirmation. "That's Lady Light, all right!" she chirped, her brown eyes shining. "I'd say it could be a really good imitation, but the necklace clinches it! She's definitely Solarian!"

"Please don't tell, Princess Stella," begged Light. "Don't let my parents know where I am."

From the Royal Fairy Academy, Bloom pursed her lips. "Even if we were to tell them, they couldn't come get you."

"Huh?" Light asked, her eyes obviously full of confusion even with the screen in the way. "Is the barrier really that powerful?"

Almost everyone in the room nodded, and Bloom went along with them. For a moment, there was silence, then Stella added, "But I wouldn't tell them anyway. I'm not the type to snitch on a friend."

A friend was a nice way of putting it. Stella barely remembered Light until Bloom mentioned that she'd been gone for months. The two had only met personally a handful of times, but the disappearance of one of the most prominent young nobles had definitely been widely known.

From the look on Light's face, she was equal parts knowing, unsure that Stella counted as even an acquaintance, and extremely flattered. "Thank you," she said.

Next to Light, Nebula and Morgana looked at each other, a silent and knowing conversation happening between them. Morgana was the one who informed the audience, both those there physically and those there virtually, what was to happen. "Light will go to the Royal Fairy Academy. As a sixteen year old, regardless of her origin, that's the law she must obey. Meanwhile, we'll send out our best warrior fairies to scout across the world. They plan on sending her away, but they'll be unable to. When they return from the barrier, we will capture Marea back… and hopefully bring some of the Apprentices down as well."

* * *

Light was put on an airplane, but not until after three hours of complaining.

"It's not right!" she protested as Morgana walked her into the airport. "Marea is my best friend and I got her into this mess. I should be on the team to find her. Shadowhaunt, I should be leading the team!"

Morgana threw the girl a stern look. "You're a sixteen year old runaway. Here, that isn't even the age of majority. Considering that and your status as an illegal alien in  _multiple_ usages of the word, I believe it would be best for you to simply obey."

Light grumbled but found the logic impossible to deny.

Morgana led her towards a grouping of seats, where many people waited. One such group was a family of four. A man with salt and pepper hair and fair skin had his arm around a lovely woman whose blue-black hair was in a messy bun. A pen was stuck behind her ear. Next to her was a girl a little bit older than Light. Dull grey-blue eyes were slightly obscured behind glasses, and straight black hair fell down like a waterfall as she examined her manicured nails. Besides the older woman, she also sat next to a girl about Light's age who looked much the same, though her eyes were a brighter shade of blue and her hair had a youthful sheen. "Who are they?" Light asked.

"The doctors Silverman and their two daughters, Mitzi and Macy. Macy is a fairy as well, according to Bloom. She'll be accompanying you to the Royal Fairy Academy."

The younger of the two girls stood up and smiled a shy smile at Light. "Nice to meet you!" she said.

"And you!" replied Light. "I'm Lady Light of Solaria, fairy of light."

"Macy Silverman, fairy of herbs."

Behind the fairy, her human older sister rolled her eyes. The mother glared at her.

Morgana smiled. "Anyway, the plane will leave any moment. Let's go get you two on board."

Macy hugged her family goodbye, even her annoyed sister, and Light felt a lump in her throat. She didn't look forward to the day when she saw her family again. But she did miss them. Very much so, in fact. Not having Marea around made the missing even worse.

Morgana somehow managed to bypass all security and made sure that they were settled on the plane before leaving them be. "I don't get why I have to take a flight," Light said before the former queen left. "I could just transport myself."

Then, she saw a gleam of silver in Morgana's hand. Quickly, Light's fingers went to where her necklace should have been. "Hey…"

"We thought you might try to find Marea yourself. I'll make sure Headmistress Bloom gets this and that it's waiting for you," said Morgana. With a wink of her eye, the pendant disappeared.

They had been right that she would try to track down Marea, but that didn't make Light any happier.

* * *

"You don't mind two new roommates, do you?" Bloom asked Amanda.

Amanda shook her head. "As long as they aren't allergic to cats, they're more than welcome in. Who are they, though? The Travel Team hasn't gone anywhere since we came back."

"We didn't find them, they found us. Light's the fairy of… well, it's obvious, and Macy's the fairy of herbs."

"Like spheres?"

"Not orbs. Herbs. Like… I don't know, oregano."

Amanda tried not to laugh.  _Geez, who'd have thought there'd be a fairy of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme._

"They'll be here any moment," Bloom continued. "I hope you'll get along well."

At that moment, there was a knock on the door and hushed whispers from outside. "That must be them!" Amanda exclaimed and hurried to greet them. However, upon opening the door, she stood face to face with the other four students. Her face fell. "Oh. Just you guys."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Roxy. "We all want to meet the…"

Her voice cut off and she looked left, as did the others. Amanda poked her head out to see two girls coming down the hall. One was a traditional beauty with curly blonde hair and shining blue eyes, the other was small and slight, blue-black hair falling over one eye. Behind Amanda, Bloom shoved her way out of the dorm room to meet them. "Welcome to the Royal Fairy Academy!" she exclaimed. "You both know me, so I'll spare you the introductions. Let's get you settled."

"Bloom, I can take them from here, if you want," Leilani said smoothly. "It'd be nice for them to be among the students, anyway."

Bloom looked as though she planned to disagree, but then nodded. "Do you know where the spare uniforms are?"

"Yes, I do."

"Alright. They're with Amanda, as you know." Bloom flashed a smile, maybe a little weary… was that why Leilani had offered?... handed a silver necklace to Light ("I think this is yours," she said) and left.

"What classes are you guys in?" Leilani asked. "Bloom said someone else was going to be in the college, but you both look high school aged."

The blonde girl raised her hand. "I'm from Solaria. I completed my compulsory magic training there, so even though I'm sixteen, Bloom's put me into Sea class."

"Sea class?" asked Roxy.

Leilani counted things off on her fingers. "Sky class, Violet class, Sea class, Rose class. It's just a shorthand way of saying if you're in high school or college, beginner or advanced. The names are based off of our cardigan colors."

"So she… Light, from what I'm gathering… is a basic magic user in college?" asked Amanda.

Light nodded, and the other girl spoke up in a shy but sure voice. "I'm Macy, in the Sky class."

"Well guys, do you want to go out into town for dinner? We can get to know each other," Leilani suggested, and Roxy, Saf, and Avi nodded their approval at the idea.

Light looked down, allowing her curls to cascade over her pale face. "Actually, if you don't mind, I think I'll turn in early."

"I'm actually really tired myself," admitted Macy.

Leilani tried not to look disappointed, but she did anyway. "Oh, okay. I'll let you guys rest, then, and I'll drop your uniforms off. Do you have a preference for skirt, pants, or jumper?"

"Jumper," Light said.

"Whatever is fine for me," added Macy.

Light gave a huge yawn. Something about it sounded off, forced. Amanda frowned. "Maybe you should get to bed and unpack tomorrow," she said. "Hey, Leilani, I'll get them settled in the room. See you later."

Leilani nodded and walked off, probably to fetch the uniforms. The two new students walked into Amanda's room and promptly collapsed on the bottom bunk that was not being used by Amanda. "I'll take the top as soon as I can stand," Macy muttered.

"Sounds good," Light agreed, sounding much perkier than her friend. "I'm not a fan of climbing down every morning anyway."

Amanda yawned. The excitement of the two fairies arriving was beginning to make her sleepy.

"Actually, I don't think I can move," Macy said sleepily. "Can I nap in your bed just for a few hours?"

Light agreed easily.

Maybe that's how Amanda knew, or maybe it was when she realized that only five minutes ago, she was wide awake.

"Sleep spell," she said.

Light blinked. It wasn't a sleepy blink. "What?"

"You're putting a sleep spell on us, aren't you?" Amanda shook her head to clear it and fought off the grogginess. She'd only had a couple of magic lessons, but she remembered the importance of visualization. She imagined sleep like clouds, trying to remove all clarity. Amanda, however, was the fairy of storms. Clouds obeyed her. She pushed them away and forced them dissolve. As she did, she found herself wide awake. "What the heck, Light?"

A small snore came from the other bottom bunk in the room. She had freed herself, but not Macy. The girl was fast asleep.

Light stared at Amanda guiltily. "Look, I just… I have to leave, and I can't have anyone telling Bloom. Or the Earth queen. Or anyone."

"So you thought you'd send me off to lullaby land?" screeched the Canadian fairy. "Not cool. What's your deal?"

Light furrowed her brow and clutched the necklace Bloom had handed to her tightly. "My best friend was kidnapped by the Apprentices of the Black Circle, it's all my fault, and I'm the only fairy I trust to get her back!"

Amanda's jaw fell open. Macy let out a long, loud snore.

Light sat down on the floor and began to explain the situation. Amanda soon sat beside her, listening to the teen weave her tale of faraway planets, living on the streets of Earth, and causing the capture of her own best friend. When she finished, it was silent, with only the sounds of footsteps outside.

"Okay," said Amanda after a moment. "The good news is you don't have to cast a sleep spell. I won't get in your way. Hell, I'll help. Everyone here will, if you know how to ask."

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is Lysis. She's, uh, how do I put it? Stricter than strict. As witchy as a fairy can be. She's also the one who has the fairy tracker that will probably be the best bet of finding your friend."

Light bit her lip. "You said everyone else would help?"

Amanda nodded.

"I'm sure someone will be able to convince this Lysis," Light said, though she didn't sound too sure. "Let's enlist the others."

Macy mumbled something in her sleep, and her two roommates stared at her. "Should we wake her up?" Amanda asked cautiously.

"No, she was jetlagged before I even began to spell her."

"Hope she doesn't freak when she realizes we're gone."

"I'm sure she'll be fiiiiiine," said Light, drawing the word out to dramatic and near-epic proportions.

* * *

When they opened the door, four girls stood there with knowing smiles.

Light opened her mouth to speak, but Roxy shook her head, grinning. "We heard every word. When Amanda started to kick up a fuss after you tried the sleep spell…"

"Let's just say the girl is  _loud,_ " Avi finished.

Leilani smiled, laughing quietly, and even Saf giggled a little. Amanda bit her lip sheepishly. "Hey, it worked out this time, didn't it?"

"Definitely," agreed Roxy. "And you were right, by the way. We'll help any way we can. Lysis, however…"

"Is not needed."

Everyone looked to Avi. In her hand was a taser-like black box. She blinked at everyone's look of surprise. "Hey, I worked on this thing just as much as she did. Of course I know where it's kept."

Saf frowned. "Isn't it supposed to be locked up?"

"And with a good lockpick, that's a problem for a fairy of tools how?"

"Fair enough."

Avi handed Light the box and the Solarian fairy took it, turning it around in her hands. "How do you use it?" she asked.

"Normally it just picks up on any fairy signal, especially untrained ones. If you concentrate on Marea, however… and especially if you know her power…"

"The power of the Crescent Moon," Light said with a small smile. "That's a reason we were able to become friends. Her power's pretty familiar to me. I know what it feels like."

With those words, the fairy tracker started to shine with a faint golden glow. The metal rungs were balanced. "Straight ahead," said Roxy.

"We don't know how far," Saf noted. "How will we get there? With our wings? What about Leilani?"

Leilani bit her lip. "I'll just stay behind. Do all of you have your cell phones?" The girls all nodded. "I'll stay here and be mission control. Call me if you need help. Someone has to distract the teachers, anyway."

Roxy nodded. "That's smart. Okay, let's go, then!"

Five beacons of light flashed into the dorm hall, filling with all sorts of colors. Green, blue, silver, grey, yellow. After a few seconds, five fairies emerged.

The four older students took in Light's outfit. Her wings were had multiple layers, each looking like a sheet of translucent gold, and they complimented her yellow sundress with orange lace trim. Orange thigh-high boots covered most of her legs, and blue metallic bracelets protected her wrists. Her curly hair was held back in a ponytail.

That was all expected, but a silver and yellow brooch on one dress strap, as well as the star-shaped golden purse she carried made the outfit seem just a little bit different. "What's that?" asked Roxy.

Light blushed. "It's my Charmix-booster. A little power boost I got when I decided to be true to myself and run away from home. If I remember right, it'll disappear in time, because people's ways of being brave change, but for now it helps. I have a little more magic than I otherwise would."

"We'll need all the magic we can get, so I'm glad you have it," Avi said. "Anyway, let's get going. I'm dying to kick Trudric's butt again."

Roxy nodded. "I can't say I'm not excited to get a rematch with Gunner, either."

Light clutched the fairy tracker tight. "Well then," she said, "let's go!"


	13. Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Roxy, Saf, Avi, Light, and Amanda face the Apprentices head-on, some of them will fall.

Wings were  _fast._

Avi knew that already, to an extent. Facing off with Trudric, she has dodged and evaded effortlessly, her wings moving her out of harm's way at a moment's notice. That, however, was almost nothing compared to what they could do with a little bit of effort and her friends beside her.

"I can't believe we only left an hour ago and we're already in Kentucky!" she yelled over the wind. "That's, what, a hundred miles?"

"Closer to three hundred, more or less," Saf responded, equally loudly. "And from the steady buildup of the fairy tracker's power, I bet we'll be there in just another hour or so."

Light smirked as she glanced down at the tracker she held. Her blonde ponytail whipped in the breeze. "This is  _nothing._ If you had Solarian charms, I'd show you how to transport."

"But if we don't know where we're going, how would we transport?" Roxy asked.

Light scowled. "I didn't think about that," she admitted.

Behind the rest of the group, Amanda floated on top of a little black raincloud that she had conjured, grabbing it hard with both hands. Her wings didn't flap along with the rest of the group, but she managed to more or less keep up. "Are we there yet?" she called nervously, clutching the soft cloud tight.

Roxy paused in midair and gave her friend a reassuring smile. "You're not going to fall, I promise."

"Look, Roxy, I believe you and all, but I still prefer to float on a solid surface than fly."

Avi threw up her hands, still flying forward. "A rain cloud isn't even solid!" she exclaimed.

"It is when you're the fairy of storms," Amanda shot back.

"I don't get how you're able to do that, magic or not," Saf said, agreeing with Avi.

"The same way Roxy can make animals talk despite their mouths and vocal cords not being built for that."

The rest of the group was silent for a moment in thought. Amanda smirked. "I win."

"If you call being a fairy who's afraid of heights winning," muttered Avi. Amanda glared at her.

"Anyway," interrupted Roxy, desperate to avoid an argument, "We need to think. When we get to where Marea is, what are we going to do? We don't know if she's being held in a cell, or if they're trying to get her to leave the barrier. We don't know much at all, really, just that they think she's Light from Solaria. I guess that they think that is beneficial to us, but if they realize that we have the real Light…"

"They might try to force me out. I'll have to fly low," Light said. "If I get too high up, one push would easily put me out of the game for good, and you can bet I don't plan on leaving Earth anytime soon. I don't really have any place to go besides Solaria, and I'm not too fond of seeing my parents after four months."

"Actually, I've been thinking something," admitted Saf. "What if Light is the Very Special Fairy? If they made the Special Fairy be someone not from Earth, it'd be really hard for us to find her, almost impossible! That would also explain why they're so desperate to get 'Light' off the planet, right?"

Roxy grinned. "That's brilliant! Hey, Light, take a shot at the barrier, won't you?"

Light shrugged. She placed her hands next to each other, each of them cupped as though she were cradling something precious. A small ball of light began to form, and she thrust it out and towards the sky. " _Solaris Illumine!"_  she shouted.

The beam of magical light went up, up, up, through the barrier. Roxy flew quickly after it. She'd never seen an attack go through the barrier… all the attacks seemed to bounce off it or disintegrate. Did that mean that the wall trapping Earth was no more? Did that mean…

She hit the barrier and started plummeting down for a moment in surprise. Quickly, she began to flap her wings again, cursing. "It's still there. When I saw the bolt of magic go through…"

"It must be because the magic is part of Light, and she can pass through," Amanda deduced.

"Yeah, something like that," affirmed Avi.

The girls sighed and disheartened, began to fly where the tracker led once again, this time in silence.

* * *

As Saf predicted, in almost an hour they landed in the middle of Mammoth Cave National Park. The fairy of lightning looked around, her scarab-shaped wings catching the last bits of light from the sunset. "I've always wanted to visit here," she said happily, "though I do hope I get to return under better circumstances."

"I'm just happy to be on the ground again," said Amanda.

Avalon shivered. "And I'll be happy if we can save Marea before it gets full dark."

Roxy pursed her lips. "Whether or not we can beat the sunset, you're gonna have to face your fear, Avi." She glanced at the fairy tracker that Light held. The magic, almost connecting the rungs, was trying to lead the group into a large, dark cave.

"At least it's the main tourist one and not one of the smaller, dangerous ones that are around here," Saf said with forced cheeriness. "There have been deaths in those…"

"Really not what I need to hear right now, Saf," Avi said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry."

Avi took a breath. "Well, we have to do what we have to do. Let's go."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" The group turned to face Light, who had placed her hands on her hips sassily. "No need to worry about darkness with me around.  _Magicae Digito._ " She took one hand off her hips and snapped her fingers. Immediately, seven stars in a familiar pattern floated around the girls, each easily giving off enough light to see by.

"The Plough?" Saf asked. At the look of confusion on her friends' faces, she clarified, "What Americans call the Big Dipper, right?"

"Yeah!" Light confirmed, "but in Solaria we call it the Magic Point, cause it looks like a person casting a spell to us. The spell to conjure it is one of the first spells we learn."

Avalon seemed much happier. "Alright!" she exclaimed, "enough with technicality! Time to storm the gates and mess stuff up!" The girl charged down the stairs into the wide, deep cave.

Saf laughed. "You know she's back to normal when she says things like that."

"She's so ready to fight that she forgot we can just fly down instead of running," Roxy added, giggling. "Come on, let's beat her down there so we can see her face when she realizes she's the last one."

* * *

"Leilani, have you seen Roxy?" asked Lysis.

Leilani paled. "She went out."

"Oh. Do you know where? I need to ask her about the fairy tracker… I think I misplaced it… that's unlike me, but it has happened before."

Leilani racked her brain. She  _hated_ lying. Misdirection, for some reason, was okay, but flat out telling an untruth was almost beyond her. She chose her words carefully. "I'm not entirely sure where she went!" she said, pleased with herself… she really didn't know the exact location Marea was, only the general direction. "I don't think she'll be back for a while, either… wait, did you say the fairy tracker is missing?"

"Yes, and I need it." Lysis looked frustrated. "Nebula called, her lab is working on a tracker of their own, and they believe there may be a fairy located in Scandinavia. I want to check it with our own tracker and possibly get the team on the road. Do you at least know where Avi and Saf are?"

"With Roxy." Phew. That was an easy one.

"They went out for the night? The new girls too?"

"Macy was tired and she's asleep, but yeah, everyone else went."

"Except you?"

"I have things to do here." Though she was still technically being honest, it was getting close. Leilani tugged on her hairbow nervously.

Lysis opened her mouth as though to say something, then closed it and smiled. "Very well. I suppose we'll leave tomorrow instead. If I can't find the fairy tracker, it isn't like I can track them down anyway. Do you happen to have any idea of where it is?"

_Crap,_  Leilani thought. She bit her lip. "Have you tried searching in the classrooms, or the library?" she asked. It was a deliberate nonanswer, and she hoped Lysis wouldn't notice.

"Not yet," Lysis admitted. "Thanks for the idea. I'll see you later."

As Lysis walked down the hall, Leilani breathed a sigh of relief. She went to her private room, as quick as possible, and dialed the phone. It was only a matter of time before Lysis would put two and two together.

* * *

"I didn't think I'd be actually in the Historic Entrance until I was in my twenties, at the  _least,_ " Saf breathed.

"Will you stop being a nerd for five seconds and help me open this lock?" Avi grumbled, fiddling with the door leading to the rest of the cave. "Silencing all the alarms was hard enough, but this lock seems to have been enchanted or something. No matter how hard I try to see myself breaking though, I can't!"

"What about a spell?" asked Light.

"What can a spell do that I can't with a lockpick and some visualization?" Avi shot back.

Light sighed. "Oh yeah. Earth doesn't have compulsory magic education yet. Uh, let me try to explain. A spell is just a way of enhancing your belief, I guess. It tells you that other people have previously done the same thing you're trying to do, and connects you to their magic as well as your own!"

"Great. So do you know a lockpick spell?"

"Uh," Light said. Her face fell. "Not exactly."

Saf grinned. "Clear the way. My time has come."

The four other girls looked at her like she was insane, but got out of her way. Saf extended her hands and focused, letting blue and gold sparks form around her. " _Alohomora_!" she shouted, her voice echoing powerfully off of the cave walls. As it did, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Saf turned to face her friends gleefully. "Who's the nerd now?" she asked.

"Still you, but I'm glad you are," said Avi, racing over to hug her best friend. "That was awesome, even for what it was."

"What was it? I've never heard that spell before," asked Light.

Amanda chortled. "That's cause it's from a famous Earth children's book about magic. But if it works, I guess…"

Saf's smile grew larger. "It helped me believe, that's for sure. If Hermione could do it, there is no reason I shouldn't be able to."

As the girls started to slip through the door towards the main portion of the cave, an alarm sounded, loud and echoing. "Crap!" yelled Amanda. "We're totally busted!"

"Avi, I thought you prevented this!" Light added.

Roxy frowned and put a hand to the little built-in pocket where she kept her phone when transformed. It was vibrating. "No, it's my cell," she said. "I had a loud ringtone, sorry." She pulled it out and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Roxy!" said Leilani from the other side. "Lysis is looking for you. She thinks you're out for dinner or something, but she'll figure it out soon, so you should… oh yikes!"

"What is it?" asked Roxy, but Leilani didn't seem to hear.

"How did you get here?" said Leilani to someone else, though her voice sounded a little far away. "Why didn't I see you?"

"Camouflage spell. I thought something was up. So, would you mind enlightening me?" said Lysis, her voice also a little far and fuzzy, but definitely mad.

Roxy covered her phone's microphone. "Uh, guys… we might want to hurry up and do this. Lysis just figured out we're trying to free Marea."

Multiple curses… some English, some Spanish, some Arabic… were uttered, and the girls began to run, following the tracker as well as they could. Roxy kept the phone pressed to her ear as she did, listening in.

"I didn't lie at all!" claimed Leilani. "I don't know where they are, I don't know where the tracker is, and I'm here being busy."

"You're good at misdirection," Lysis said. "My lie detector spell didn't pick up on a thing, even though my intuition did. So I'll ask one more question. What are the girls out doing?"

"Helping Light with stuff," said Leilani. Roxy could hear the stubbornness in her voice, an utter refusal to tattle.

"With what stuff?" Lysis prompted.

Leilani was silent. Roxy grimaced and facepalmed, still running. "How much farther?" she asked Light.

Light smiled grimly. "The prongs are almost connected. Any moment now."

"Let me talk to the princess," Lysis ordered over the phone.

"I dropped my cell; I don't know where it is."

In her other ear, the one listening to what was happening in Mammoth Cave, Roxy heard another conversation. " _Déjame ir_!"

"Now now," said one of the Apprentices to the Spanish-speaking girl… Marea? "You've only got a few more minutes. Once it's full dark, we'll go and try again to get you out of this barrier. You may be solidly rooted here, but we need to make sure that you understand that Earth is no home for you, little fairy princess. Or were you just nobility? Whatever. You're of no matter to us."

Marea fired off more words that Roxy couldn't understand, though from the way she said them, they were probably not exactly the best words to hear anyway.  _"¡Asqueroso! Usted es un fraude viscosa repugnante y horrible de un usuario de magia. ¡Zoquete!"_

Next to Roxy, Light was literally wincing. "That's the strongest language I've  _ever_ heard her use."

"What's she saying?" asked Avi curiously.

"Paraphrased, it's something like 'you're gross and no good at magic,' but in a lot more words."

Avi grinned. "Girlfriend's got a way of speaking the truth though."

Over the phone, Roxy heard a scramble, then a voice. "Princess Roxy," said Lysis, her tone low and threatening, "I demand you and your fellow students return at once."

"Lysis, we've found Marea and the Apprentices! We can't just leave now."

"Oh yes you can! Or do you not remember one single Apprentice almost destroying you a couple of weeks ago in the pizza parlor?"

"Lysis, we outnumber them."

"You outnumbered Gunner three to one. What are the odds now, five to four? Much worse. Get out before they see you, I order it."

"You can't order me! I'm your princess!" Roxy screeched indignantly.

There was a pause on both ends, and then two people spoke at the same time. "I'm coming to find you," said Lysis, hanging up just as the Apprentice who had been speaking asked "Did you hear that?"

"Crap, this is bad," whispered Roxy.

"Do we run?" asked Saf.

"We have to save Marea!" Light said, and she began to run…  _towards_ the voice.

Avi nodded. "We've come this far!" she agreed, following the Solarian noble.

Roxy, Saf, and Amanda looked at each other. Unlike the other girls, they were afraid and nervous, but they were still loyal. "Lysis is coming to get us," said Roxy weakly. "The worst that can happen is a little bit of hurt, right?"

"Right?" said Saf, and it came out like a question. Amanda gave an unsure nod.

Then, the three of them charged.

* * *

Marea's hope was sparked when she saw her best friend rushing in, full Charmix outfit on and her golden wings out. "Clara!" she exclaimed joyfully.

The four wizards who kept her captive glanced at the fairy running towards them. "Clara de Luz," hissed Killian. His multicolored eyes flashed darkly, red, blue, black. For a moment, he looked angry, but then his expression turned pleased. "Nyklus, you want to prove yourself. If you would?" he said in English.

Next to him, redheaded Nyklus began to move his hands in a swirling motion. Water began to leak from the cave walls, racing over to his hands as though they were magnets. A ball of cold cave water began to form in front of him, growing larger and larger until it was a fairly good sized projectile. "Clara, watch out!" yelled Marea.

Clara dodged the large bolt of water at the last second, and Marea was shocked as she realized there was a girl behind her as well, another fairy. The water seemed to deflect from the dark-skinned girl, however. As it bounced back to the wizards, Marea saw that the other fairy had conjured a mirror shield.

Nyklus waved a hand, and the waterball disintegrated before it could hit him or any of his friends. "Two fairies might require two wizards," he said, looking towards the tattooed Trudric. The large man nodded, and suddenly, the cave was dark. Marea could see no detail… except for the six people around her, each standing out against the black.

Clara grinned. "Even illusion darkness can be dealt with if you have a little light and love!  _Rising Sun_!" From her hand shot a beam of light. It knocked into Trudric, sending him flying through the air. By the time he landed on his butt several feet away, the illusion had vanished.

Killian sneered. "You two are good for nothing, and Gunner, you aren't much better for standing around."

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to give them a chance to prove themselves," said Gunner, rolling their eyes. They ran a hand through their unruly brown hair. "Besides, this party has barely even started. If you were paying attention, you'd know that there were three more fairies just waiting for us to be caught off guard. Pay some attention,  _brother."_  The last word was spat almost sarcastically.

Clara raced over to Marea. "Friend, are you okay?" she asked in Spanish. "Don't worry, we're going to get you out of here."

Marea nodded hopefully. She couldn't wait to go home, to be with her parents. Maybe to leave magic behind. She wasn't yet sure.

Clara pulled her up out of the chair she had been sitting in, not even tied up… she had given up even trying to escape after about an hour. Four wizards versus an untrained fairy was no competition. Still, she was not beyond a surge of hope now that her friend was here. "What do I do?" Marea whispered.

Clara took her hand. "We're going to converge," she said. "I've never done it before, but I've heard about it, so it's worth a try. Focus on the moon!"

With all her heart, Marea thought about the crescent up above in the sky, about the stars dancing around it. She thought about the stories and folktales her mother had told to her about it. As she did, she felt small prickles of power all about her, but especially where Clara held her hand, sharing her warmth.

Clara raised the two grasped hands to the cave ceiling, and a burst of light so powerful that it dissolved everything in its path burned a way through to the Earth's surface. Clara grabbed Marea and up they flew. Behind them, Marea could see the wizards and the other fairies… not one now, but four… follow. They flew up, up, and up until Marea landed solidly on the ground. Clara looked her over. "Do you think you can transform? You really have to, so please tell me you can."

Marea took a deep breath and nodded. Then, she allowed thoughts of the moon in the sky to spread until they consumed her. A flash of dark blue light formed around her, and she squeezed her eyes tight.

When she opened them, she was a fairy.

* * *

Marea made a lovely fairy. Her dark brown hair was held in two braids, and a light blue V-neck top and shorts showcased her long limbs. Dark blue bracelets and boots mimicked Light's in style, and the wings on her back looked like those of a luna moth. Joyfully, the young teen flew up in the air, next to her friend. Roxy smiled.  _Mission almost complete. Now to escape with our lives intact._

The Wizards didn't have wings, but they turned out to be just as nimble in the air as any fairy. Gunner shot bolts of magic at the Royal Fairy Academy students… it seemed the girls spent more time dodging than attacking, something that seemed to Roxy to be a bad sign. Beside Gunner, Killian raised his arms. Immediately, birds of prey swooped from the trees towards the girls. Avi, Amanda, Saf, Light, and Marea covered their faces with their arms, but Roxy needed to see. "Birds!" she commanded. "Turn around! He's controlling you for his own purposes. You don't want to attack us!"

The birds looked at each other, and Roxy heard their thoughts.  _She's nuts,_ one thought.  _Killian's a good guy. I've never been short of carrion since he came around._

_That girl's just trying to talk us out of it 'cause she knows she looks delicious._

One bird cawed a sort of laugh.  _He's our friend, he isn't controlling us._

Had Roxy been on land, she would have taken an uncomfortable step backwards. As it was, she floated warily in midair. "Is your power…" she trailed.

"The power of animals?" Killian gave her a knowing smile. "Why, Princess. However did you guess?"

Roxy's heart sped up nervously. She let her mind probe, attempting to make a connection with an animal, any animal. Every time she found one, it rejected her. "Did you really…"

"Make friends with every single animal in Mammoth Cave National Park, including the insects? Yes. Yes, I did. Face it. You're all but powerless here, as all your normal partners are under my control. Just like you soon will be yourself!" Killian gestured towards his birds, and they began to race towards her again. They swarmed like gnats around her, scratching and pecking her, and she couldn't help but beg for mercy until her voice turned into sobs.

She was too busy to see Avi getting swept from the sky by a big stream of water, or Saf and Amanda being pelted with Gunner's magical bolts. When the birds finally stopped attacking Roxy enough that she could pay attention to other things, her wings were torn and full of holes. She plummeted towards the ground, with only her magic to make sure she landed safely.

Up in the sky, clear and bright from the light of the moon, she could see the Apprentices grabbing Marea and trying to force her out of the barrier. They slammed her against the wall until she fainted, her wings fading away and her outfit returning to a normal civilian form.

Then, they dropped her.

Roxy watched, weak and powerless, as a wingless Marea fell through the sky. Light flew after her, but by the time she had reacted, it seemed almost too late. Marea was going to crash, and there was no fairy that could stop her. And while Roxy may have had the magic to save herself from a similar fate, no fainted fairy could work the proper spells.

Death. Failure. The loss of a new friend. Roxy closed her eyes, but then opened them. She had to see the end. It was almost a compulsion, almost like punishing herself. She could have stopped this, but she had done the wrong thing, and then what happened? Then what?

Then, Marea landed gently in the arms of Princess Bloom Peters of Domino.

The headmistress of the Royal Fairy Academy was flanked by Lysis, Tora, and four other former Vengeance Fairies. Her youthful face was set into a stern expression, and her Believix wings were fully unfurled. "Apprentices of the Black Circle!" she barked. "Come down here and face some fairies your own size!"

Killian laughed, loudly… his voice almost seemed to be amplified magically. "Thank you for the invitation, but we'd rather not. In fact, we have places to be. Let's see… Bergen, Norway? Or would you prefer Chicago, Illinois? Where would you rather race to? That's all this is, right?"

Though it was too far away to be possible, Roxy swore she could see his eyes flash black. "All this is to us is a game, you know. One we're willing to do anything to win, but still, you won't ever see us being serious. You aren't nearly powerful enough for that. You aren't nearly as powerful as you believe."

Bloom roared, and from her chest burst the fire of the Great Dragon. It spiraled into the sky, half an attack and half a show of power. Killian only laughed.

Then, as the Dragon faced him eye to eye, he snapped his fingers and the Apprentices were gone.

* * *

Each of the girls spent the next day in bed; even after Bloom used her fairy dust to heal the worst of the wounds, the experience was so tiring that there wasn't much of a choice. When Roxy woke up around seven in the evening the next day, the others were all waiting for her, having already awoken. That was the good news, that everyone was okay.

The bad news is, they had been summoned to the headmistress's office.

Lysis was pacing as Roxy walked in. "I think they should all be grounded… both in terms of powers and places. And the responsibilities of the Travel Team should be revoked and given to Queen Nebula's professional forces. We were idiots to have teenagers in this position in the first place."

Bloom shook her head. "There's a reason they were chosen, Lysis, and you know that. One bad decision doesn't mean they're bad people for the job. I've made enough mistakes to know that. I still make mistakes. As for the grounding, I'd consider it, but these girls need their powers and their freedom to keep safe and do their jobs, not even counting classes. However, that does give me an idea…"

"Oh?" asked Lysis.

"It's something I'm very familiar with. A popular punishment for freshman at Alfea who get into trouble." Bloom smiled wickedly. "Who knows how to use furniture polish?"

* * *

"I can't believe we have to clean the whole cafeteria," Avi grumbled as she moved some chairs so she could sweep under them. "And without magic, too."

"I can't believe that Marea and Leilani got out of it!" Light said.

"Technically, they did nothing wrong," said Amanda. "Leilani never did lie, and Marea was just, oh, you know. Getting rescued."

Saf only sighed as she wiped the tables clean. "I don't mind doing the cleaning," she added, almost as an afterthought, "but then we have to make a meal for everyone? I can't cook at all."

"I call server position!" Roxy yelled. "After all, I'm the most qualified."

Amanda stuck out her tongue as she mopped behind Avi. "Yeah, but that doesn't get you out of cooking!"

"Oh yes, it does!"

* * *

When Bloom walked in to see five fairies collapsed on the floor in a giggle fit, hair and clothes soaked and soapy from mop water, she couldn't help but smile.

Still, in her heart, she felt a pang, not necessarily for missing her friends, but for… well, a different kind of missing.

They were no longer the girls who splashed each other and argued and did stupid things. They were well thought out, mature, and maybe a little bit too uniform.

Maybe getting stuck on Earth and rediscovering herself was the best thing that could have happened to Bloom Peters.

Or maybe her friends, now so similar, would be prepared to reject the slightest bit of difference.

Only time would tell.


	14. Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Norway and in the United States, two very different girls experience one very intense emotion.

The second she got out of school, Katt Bloom checked her cell phone. Next to her, her best friend Solveig Bjornstad peered at the screen. "Is he here yet?" she asked.

Katt shook her head. Her short red hair ruffled in the cool harbor breeze that seemed always-present in Bergen, Norway. "Not yet. Or at least, if he is, Mom hasn't texted me yet."

"How long's it been since you've seen him?"

"Only like a month. I went to the States for circus camp, remember? He came and visited a lot."

Solveig sighed. "Man, I wish I got to live in two different countries."

"No you don't." Katt shoved her phone into the pocket of her jeans. "It's so much moving around, and I never get to hang out with my school friends on breaks. Plus, between the Norwegian and American pronunciations of my name, I'm never sure how it's supposed to be pronounced at all!"

"That's why you'll always just be Katt to me." Solveig gave the girl in question a tight squeeze. "I know you have it tough, girl. I just wish I could jet off to New York City every now and again."

Katt's phone vibrated and she pulled it out, smiling when she saw the text. "Looks like Dad's here. I'll see you on Monday?"

"Of course. Have a good time!"

Katt smiled and started to run from the upper secondary school she attended. As she reached the small half-length wall that divided it from the rest of the city, she jumped up and catapulted herself over it, her legs spread as wide as they could go. Solveig shook her head. _What a show-off,_ she thought fondly.

"Who's that?"

Solveig turned. Behind her was an older boy, a transfer student from somewhere-or-another who entered directly into VG3… two years ahead of her and Katt, both first year VG1 students. "Catherine Bloom," she said, pronouncing the girl's name the Norwegian way, as though it was spelled _Katrine._ "Katt," she corrected after a moment.

The boy's mouth quirked up into a funny smile, and his ocean-colored eyes gleamed. "What is she, a track star?"

"More of an acrobat, actually," Solveig grinned. "She's good, huh? She trains in America every summer." Solveig closed one of her eyes so she could use the other to focus on the older student. "You're new, huh? What program are you in? Do I get to know your name?"

The boy shook his head, put a finger to his lips, and walked away. As he did, Solveig could swear she saw one of his eyes, formerly so blue, flash red.

* * *

Now that there were eight students in the Royal Fairy Academy, all of varying ages and skill levels, classes became divided rather than lumped together. Leilani and Light went to magic classes in the morning, while Amanda, Marea, Roxy, Avi, Macy, and Saf went to their academic courses. After lunch, they switched.

Marea had originally been placed in the Sky Class, but by the end of the day, she had been promoted to Violet, with Roxy. Shyly, she switched out her cardigan as Bloom offered, and tentatively high-fived Roxy when the high five was offered.

The newest fairy seemed understandably wary about the idea of magic after her experience. Having her best friend in another class wasn't helping much, as far as Roxy could tell. Though she spoke decent English as well as her native Spanish, she barely spoke a word. She ducked her heads during magic lessons, hoping to be avoided.

Roxy couldn't be too surprised that Saf seemed to be the one who could bring the girl out of her shell a little. The two sat together in classes and at lunch, sharing comforting, shy smiles. Roxy was glad. She had secretly worried about the traumatized transfer student.

As soon as class ended, Lysis met with the rest of the Core Four. "We've got a mission. We're confirmed for a fairy in Norway."

"We're going to Europe?" Roxy exclaimed.

"Well," said Lysis, "last time I checked, that's where Norway is. We're leaving in two hours, pack your things and be ready and waiting at the front gate. Our plane leaves at ten PM, and I'd like to be there sufficiently early." With that, she turned militaristically on her heel and walked off.

"Europe!" Saf exclaimed. "It's been over a year since I've been that close to home."

"Isn't Cairo in Africa?" asked a puzzled Roxy.

Saf frowned. "I was talking about London. I may have been born in Egypt, but England's much nicer in my opinion, and that's where most of my friends are now. Besides you two, of course."

Beside her, Avi slung an arm over her best friend's shoulder. "You've been all over the world, and the only time I've even been out of this country is when we nabbed Amanda in Canada. Going off the continent is sure to be exciting."

Nodding, Roxy thought back to their failed mission in Mammoth Cave. The Apprentices had said something about a Norwegian fairy. They knew.

Yes, this was sure to be exciting indeed.

* * *

"Dad, Mom!" Katt yelled as she opened the door to the house she and her mother lived in. "I'm home from school!"

From the kitchen, her parents emerged. Katt smiled. She could see the things they had given to her… she had her mother's red hair and her father's violet eyes. Her wry, sarcastic smile from her mother matched the razor wit she'd inherited from her dad, and his lean body matched well with her mom's graceful beauty. Katt was a fusion of amazing traits, perfect for a gymnast and an acrobat… two things she definitely was.

"How was school?" asked her father as if he lived with her all the time, rather than just sporadic visits when he was on business trips in Europe.

"It was nice. I'm liking VG1."

Her dad shook his head. "Sixteen years old and only now starting high school, and to think that's normal in Norway. In the States, you'd be halfway done by now."

"Yeah, but would I be able to study what I wanted to, or just a handful of unrelated subjects?" Katt shot back.

In response, her dad ruffled her hair and grinned. "I'll be here for the weekend. I took Monday off so I could stay a while. Sound good, Catherine?" He pronounced her name with the English pronunciation, and behind him, her mother made a gagging sound.

Katt's family was an untraditional one. Her mother and father, Nora Olsen and Gregory Bloom, had met working at a summer camp in America as older teenagers and had dated, more for fun than anything. It was only after Nora had returned to Norway that she discovered she was pregnant.

With the internet so new and long distance so expensive, the two nineteen-year-olds had resorted to e-mail to discuss future plans… including naming… for their daughter. Without the spoken word to guide them, neither figured out that the name Catherine was pronounced differently depending on language spoken until Katt herself was born. By then, there wasn't much time to think of another good name that worked in either language, so Katt simply had to learn to respond to both.

Her name, anyway, was a good example of her split between two countries and cultures. She spent the school year with her mother in Norway and considered herself Norwegian, but every vacation found her in New York City, or at one of the circus camps in New York State. She was split between her family-oriented mother and her business-oriented father. She was simultaneously horrified that Norway didn't have s'mores, and that Americans commonly didn't use cheese slicers.

Frankly, it was exhausting.

Perhaps the weirdest thing about it was that though her parents were not in love, and likely never were, they remained best friends to this day. It was nice, but not exactly something usual, and as unusual as her situation was, sometimes normal was exactly what Katt craved. Normal family, normal school life… heck, maybe even a normal romance.

Both her parents, plus her, living in the same city for a weekend? That was normal.

Katt nodded. "That sounds great," she said.

* * *

It was early morning on Saturday when the Core Four arrived in Bergen, and for a moment after entering the city, it was all they could do not to stare at anything and everything.

The mixture of old buildings and modern people was like something out a fairy tale. Alleys made of stone, and even wood led from one amazing sight to another, and the antiquity of some places almost made Roxy laugh, especially the cozy-looking McDonalds, with white paneling and shutters. "We should get breakfast there before we start searching for the fairy!" Roxy suggested.

Lysis glared. "As your official chaperone, I have to deny you that. I've yet to meet a proper princess who would even step into that caliber of restaurant."

"Lysis, you've known me long enough to know that, princess or not, I am _not_ proper."

Saf gave a reassuring smile. "We probably don't have the time, anyway. The Apprentices knew about this fairy before we did, remember? It's imperative we get to her as soon as possible."

"It'll be pretty hard to find a single fairy in a city this big," said Avi. "When you said Norway, I kind of imagined something a little quainter… no, actually, not quainter, this is pretty hecka quaint, but maybe about four times smaller."

Lysis took the fairy tracker from her pocket and sighed. "Between you, me, and the lab in Gardenia, we've done a good job making this more precise. Being able to know what city a fairy is in is a blessing. I only wish it could narrow further. You're right, Avalon. This is going to take some doing."

"Should we split up?" Saf suggested.

The older fairy's lips pursed, but she nodded. "It seems to be our best option. Just give me one moment." She gripped the fairy tracker tight and allowed her own magic to surround it, giving it a transparent blue aura. " _Magical Mitosis!_ " she cried, and pulled the aura apart from the tracker. The aura took the form of what it had previously surrounded.

Lysis handed the tracker to Roxy. "Here," she said. "You and Avi take this and start searching. We'll meet back at this spot in two hours. That's when the magic should wear off. Got it?"

Roxy and Avi nodded.

"If you find her, you have Saf's and my cell numbers," Lysis said. "Don't hesitate to call for backup."

"We won't," chimed the two girls.

Lysis looked unsure, but before she could change her mind, Roxy and Avi were gone.

* * *

Back in Harrisburg, life went on as normal.

Macy Silverman thought that the top bunk would be idyllic, and with a little help from her idol-turned-headmistress Bloom, she'd managed to get her small windowsill garden to float around her bed. Basil and oregano and all sorts of other things, the scent of living things and good soil lulling her to sleep each night… it was as good as she had been promised. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who thought so.

Sir Fluffybutt dangled helplessly from a floating flowerpot, his claws digging into the soil as Amanda, Light, Marea, and Macy all looked on in horror. "My catnip!" Macy couldn't help but cry out as she noticed the nibbled plant.

"My cat!" countered Amanda. "How is he going to get down?"

"Can't one of us transform and grab him?" Light asked.

"I'm not grabbing him when he's frightened, are you? He'd scratch my face off, and he loves me! Don't you have some kind of spell to levitate him down?"

Light frowned. "It's dangerous to move a living thing with magic unless you've been trained properly."

"I wish Roxy were here," Amanda said. "She'd know how to deal with this."

Someone knocked on the door. Marea opened it to find Leilani standing there, three large books under her arm, one eyebrow raised inquisitively. "What's going on? I heard your voices all the way down the corridor."

Wordlessly, all four girls pointed up. Sir Fluffybutt was yowling and trying to climb back onto the flowerpot, which was now tilting as though it was actively attempting to throw him off. Leilani's eyes narrowed in a determined look, and she entered the room and climbed the ladder to Macy's bed.

"Someone, move all the pots besides the kitty's!" she ordered, and between Light and Macy, the other twelve were out of the way. Taking advantage of the high ceilings, Leilani jumped with as much length and momentum as she could gather, and grabbed onto the catnip flowerpot herself. Sir Fluffybutt meowed in panic and moved one paw to take a swipe at the young woman, but quickly seemed to realize that was a bad idea and dug claws into the dirt once again.

The catnip, Leilani, and Sir Fluffybutt drifted lazily downwards until a few seconds later, Leilani's feet touched ground. Sir Fluffybutt seemed to realize he was out of harm's way; he detached himself from the plant and jumped to the ground, immediately beginning to clean himself off.

Leilani let go of the flowerpot with a smile. It drifted up to where it was before. "Whoa, how did you know to do that?" asked Light.

"I have to take more theory than you guys, remember? No magic. I just happened to remember that the most common spells for permanent levitation emulate helium, so if I added a little weight, it'd float downwards." The woman shrugged, her dark hair pooling on her shoulders as she did. "Not a big deal. That said, maybe you four should spend some time with your books outside of class so I don't have to keep bailing you out like this…"

Macy blushed and considered it. Of all the other students, she liked Leilani most. Calm, intelligent, creative, and most of all, _brave,_ the president of the student body was so much like the Winx Club she idolized. The main difference was that Leilani was also approachable. Macy had never interacted with the entire Winx Club, though her older sister had. She had only met Bloom, and Bloom was a special case, an old family friend, now something other and mysterious.

Leilani looked towards Macy, and the younger girl's heartbeat quickened. "You should definitely pay attention as to how your own spells work, okay? If you're going to cast something, make sure you're ready for any and all outcomes. Got it?"

"Got it!" Macy nodded furiously, embarrassed. "I'll do my best to learn it."

"And maybe," continued Leilani, "if you want to grow catnip or anything else cute little kitties like to get into, you should do it somewhere else. My room is large, and I can set a small windowbox aside for you there, if you'd like? Sir Fluffybutt doesn't come into my room often, and when he does, I'm there and can keep an eye on him."

Macy nodded wordlessly, and she could feel her heart welling up with admiration. _She's so cool, but so nice._

"Great! We'll chat more about that later. Remember girls… helium!" Leilani said, and she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her, leaving the others smiling gratefully, and Macy Silverman in a flutter.

* * *

"Katt! Can you run down to the store and grab some groceries for today? I didn't have a chance to do today's shopping while you were in class." Katt's mother spoke in English, likely for the benefit of Katt's father. "I was busy cleaning for this weekend."

"Sure, Mom!" Katt grinned, responding in kind. "Anything in particular?"

"You can pick."

"Okay! I'll be back soon!"

She headed out the door of her apartment and started up the narrow stone and pavement streets in her neighborhood towards the nearest shop. As she walked, careful not to slip or trip on the gritty trail, she thought to herself about the future… both the coming weekend, and the rest of her life. Adulthood was creeping up fast, though what even counted as adulthood wasn't even something she was sure about. Her mandatory schooling was done, as far as Norway was concerned. She was going now because she _wanted_ to. She wasn't the age of majority for two more years, but she'd still be a student. If she moved to the USA, she couldn't drink for five more years…

It made her head hurt.

Or maybe that was because she had walked into a man.

" _Oi_!" she said automatically, then, seeing he was confused and likely a tourist, translated herself into English. "Oh man! I'm so sorry I bumped into you, excuse me!"

The man laughed. "It's fine," he said in English, waving it off. "I'm just a little bit lost. Do you know where the Best Western Hotel nearby is?"

"The Sandviken Brygge one?"

"Yes, that one." He smiled, and she took him in. He had silvery hair, contrasted by his youthful face; he seemed to be no older than twenty. His eyes shone like the Norwegian Sea, as stereotypical as it seemed, and he dressed stylishly, in dark jeans and a black hoodie with rolled up sleeves. Katt, all messy red hair and summer camp tee shirts, suddenly felt a little bit overwhelmed.

She gritted her teeth anyway, sucking in air apologetically. "All I know is just go down the hill until you hit water, then head to your right on the major road there. I don't have much of a reason to go there, you know."

"Oh." He looked slightly disappointed, then flashed a winning smile. "You're Catherine Bloom, right?"

"Katt," she corrected. It took a beat for her to notice that A, he knew her, and B, he pronounced her name the same way her mother did, not at all like a tourist would. "You know me?" she asked.

"We go to the same school," he grinned. "I transferred in this year, and I'm still living at the hotel. I just usually take the bus instead of walking, so I'm not really sure where it is… or where I am."

"I can get you to a bus stop easy. Here, let me show you to one, it's on my way. By the way, I didn't catch your name, did I?"

He paused, then said, "You can call me Bertram." His voice held a hint of sadness. "It might take me a moment to respond to it; I've been going by something else during my time away from here."

"Where were you before?" asked Katt as she began to walk. Bertram followed.

"Lately, I've been Stateside. I was born in Norway… seems quite a long time ago, because I spent most of my life traveling around. It's good to be home, but it feels different. Some things never change, though," he added fondly, looking through the gaps between houses and shops towards the sea.

Katt felt a flash of fondness for another person who knew her feelings. Another person torn between cultures. "No matter how much this sea and this city stay the same from year to year, no matter how old and unchanging it gets… some things are bound to be different when you come back, and sometimes those things can feel very big."

"Exactly," said Bertram with a smile.

For a long moment, they walked in silence, then Katt spoke again. "What program are you in?"

"Drama and society, VG3. You?"

"Sports and Physical Education, but it's only my first year."

Bertram nodded. "That sounds fun. You're athletic, then?"

"I'm a gymnast," she responded proudly.

"Ah, I think I've heard that before, actually. It makes sense. I saw how you exited the school today."

A blush came over Katt's cheeks. "Oops," she muttered, embarrassed.

She could see the bus stop now, and stopped walking, facing Bertram as she did. "Well, here's your stop. I'll see you in school on Monday, I guess."

"I really hope so," he said. His eyes seemed lighter, with a little more sparkle. "I would really like to get to know you, Katt."

She was surprised to find that she was perfectly fine with that. She didn't often talk to people outside her program, or her family, or Solveig. It would be different to talk to someone who knew exactly how it felt to have a foot in two worlds, though. It had to be.

He leaned forward, his head tilting slightly, as if going in for a kiss. Still surprised with herself, Katt didn't move or fight it. Bertram's face was only inches from hers when…

"Move away from the fairy, wackozoid!" cried a low female voice in English… if the last word counted as English.

Bertram took a step back, hands up and eyes gleaming, though his mouth was set in a frown. "Oh no!" he cried out, responding in the same language as they'd been interrupted in. "Whatever are you going to do to us?"

Katt looked down the street, almost empty but for her, Bertram, and two teenage tourists who both looked very, very angry. "Bertram, what is this?" she asked in Norwegian, hoping they wouldn't understand.

"It's trouble," he responded in kind. "I'll explain later. For now, Katt… run."

She didn't even realize she had obeyed until she found herself two blocks over, wondering what happened, wondering who Bertram was, what was going on, how her potential first kiss had gotten so ruined.

_At least,_ she thought, laughing silently and sarcastically to herself, _it can't get any worse._

That was when she heard the footsteps behind her, a voice barking orders in her father's native tongue: "Katt Bloom, don't move another step!"


	15. Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsure and without much confidence, Bloom, Roxy, and Avi try to decide what it means to be a leader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: blood

Adrenaline still flooding her body and fear welling in her mind, Katt relied on the same thing that had saved many a tournament to now save her life: muscle memory.

She dove to the ground and moved immediately into a series of somersaults, keeping her body small and compact as she rolled forward. _Technically,_ she couldn't help but think, _I_ didn't _take another step._

Realizing that while compact might work for now, but it wasn't letting her move very quickly, she jumped onto her feet and ran forward, gaining enough momentum to launch into a triple front flip. This was harder, but covered more distance. From the corner of her eye as she was in the air, she saw that her pursuers were the two teenage girls from before. One was dark-skinned, with kinky natural hair pulled into a ponytail, and the other was some sort of punk-rock princess whose pink hair and skinny jeans couldn't hide her almost regal femininity. The ponytail girl looked furious and had her arms outstretched, and the punk looked almost scared… but of what?

Katt appraised the street for the best escape. She found a clock hanging from the side of the building, welded onto it sturdily, and she jumped to grab it, swinging from it a few times before landing a little ways away. As her feet touched the stone, however, she felt something whiz inches above her head and watched as something silver flew over her, exploding with a bang against a nearby wall.

_What the heck?_

Katt thought for a split second about where she was, how she could escape. There were two strengths on her side… Bergen was _hers,_ a city she knew like the back of her own hand, and she was a talented acrobat. She knew as soon as she thought of it that there was one place where no one, no one at all, could catch her… if she could only get there.

She feigned movement forward, then ducked into an alley where stairs waited to usher her to the next street down. As her pursuers passed the alley, their momentum too strong to let them turn, Katt slid down the railing.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since Bloom Peters had talked to anyone from Magix, and she had no clue where to place the blame.

Yes, she should have called. Then again, shouldn't her friends have as well? They knew she was lonely; they knew she was busy and may not be the best at keeping in contact. And yet, not one of them, not a single one… not even her _fiancé_ … had tried to reach her.

She swallowed her loneliness and started to dial Stella.

_Hi, you've reached the private number of Princess Stella of Solaria! If you're a reporter or paparazzi, please leave your company name as well as a number where I can reach you! If you're one of my many admirers, please leave your name, number, and a compliment! If you're one of my friends, just tell me which one and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a super sunny day!_

Bloom had never actually heard her best friend's voicemail message before; she almost laughed as she left her message. Still, she wanted to talk to someone now, not later. She hung up and began to dial Sky.

_Um, hi! I guess this is the private number of King Sky of Eraklyon!_ Her fiancé's voice laughed nervously, almost unsurely. _T-that's me! Uh, leave a name and number? I'll call you back maybe?_

Bloom frowned. What was going on? She hung up without leaving a message and tried Flora.

_Hello! This is Flora of Linphea, fairy of plants. I'm currently occupied, but if you leave your information, I'll return your call as soon as I can. Thank you!_

The headmistress of the Royal Fairy Academy set her cell phone down with a huff. Why would no one answer? What were the chances that they were all busy? As far as Bloom knew, they didn't have any missions. Were they in class? Bloom knew that all the Winx besides her had decided to go to graduate school at Alfea, and Sky was taking extra leadership classes at Red Fountain after realizing he wasn't sufficiently prepared to be king.

Maybe Faragonda would know. Bloom wasn't above calling her under the guise of asking for headmistress advice.

Poesia Faragonda picked up first ring. "Bloom, dear!" she exclaimed. "How is everything at RFA?"

"It's pretty good, Miss Faragonda. We're really starting to grow in size. There are eight students, and three of them are on a trip right now to bring another one here. It's so incredible how the fairies of Earth do things differently than I learned, and I'm gaining new knowledge every day. They've been toying around with using spells from fictional books… and they believe in it enough that the spells even work! That was dreamed up by Safeyah Hafeij, fairy of lightning. You'd like her a lot."

Bloom could almost see the gleam in her mentor's eyes. "Earth fairies are historically curious and inventive by nature. Since some of them have grown up without the tradition and guidance of older magical beings, I expect that their inventiveness will be beyond even that. You have a lot to look forward to, and I expect once the barrier comes down, some of your girls will be hailed as modern geniuses for the things they come up with."

"Still, they're teenagers. They're worse than the Winx and I were! Five of them snuck off to fight the Apprentices, all on their own!"

"Oh? I thought you said they were worse than you were?"

Bloom laughed. "I feel like I should apologize for everything I put you and Miss Griselda through."

"All's well that ends well, dear. Now, what did you really call me about? If everything is as good as you say it is, there should be no issue."

Bloom hesitated, but Faragonda urged her on. "You know that you can speak to me about anything."

"It's the Winx Club!" blurted the younger headmistress. "I haven't heard from anyone in forever. Do you know what's going on?"

There was a beat, a pause, then… "They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Slowly, Faragonda told Bloom about Tritannus and the return of the Trix. She told the story of the decision to gain the cursed powers of Sirenix… she told her about Sky's amnesia and Diaspro's advances. "They've done the best they can without you, and I promise that it's been difficult for them," she said. "They feel your loss. Daphne, your sister, was the only one who knew the location of the Book of Sirenix, and without her guidance, they tore the school apart to find it. Sky's memory was lost, and though we believe you may be the key to restoring it, he won't talk to a girlfriend he doesn't remember… he downright refuses."

"That's terrible!"

"It is, but they are the Winx Club, and their hearts, like yours, are powerful and determined. Trust in your friends. They will figure it out."

"That doesn't solve the problem of them not calling," Bloom said, then winced. She sounded like a child.

Faragonda chuckled. "They're representing Alfea in a competition, in hopes of gaining powers to make their coming journey easier. I am confident they will return your calls as soon as they return. Don't write your friends off so easily."

"I won't," said Bloom. "Thank you, Miss Faragonda."

"Of course. Now, good luck and I'll await hearing from you again."

"Same to you!" Bloom said as she hung up. Smiling, she hugged herself, grateful her friends hadn't forgotten her, before the gravity set in.

This was not the first time her friends and her had been separated, but this was the first time it had been this long, and with not one, but two major missions. She would not write off her friends though, she had meant that when she said it.

The question was, would they write off Bloom?

* * *

Roxy and Avalon looked at each other as the new fairy (named Katt, if they had heard correctly) started on what seemed to be an elaborate gymnastics routine, unsure of what to do. After a moment, Avalon put her hand out, gathering her energy, and sent a flash of magic rushing towards the girl, who seemed to take it as an escalation of the threat, picking up the pace of her parkour and continuing the footrace.

"Avi!" Roxy exclaimed, "Don't try to hurt her! She's never going to believe we're on her side now!"

Avi frowned. "Excuse me! I thought I could knock her out and we could explain when she came to!"

They ran down the stairs that Katt had slid down the railing of and caught a glimpse of her jumping off a platform and onto an alley slightly down the large hill they were located on. The Norwegian teenager landed on her feet with no issue, like… well, like a cat. Roxy looked at Avi. "Time to transform?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Twin flashes of light in green and silver lit up the narrow street, and the two teens took the sky as soon as they emerged. "We'll try to keep an eye on her from above, then dive in," Roxy decided, but Avi seemed to ignore her and swooped down almost immediately.

Katt looked behind herself and saw the fairy. Her eyes widened, but she turned and vaulted over a wall, then jumped onto a thin fence railing, balancing on it with practiced ease. Just as Avi seemed about to grab her, she launched herself into another flip and broke into a run the millisecond her feet touched ground. Avi crashed into the pole face first and fell to the ground, and Roxy landed next to her. "You're bleeding!" exclaimed the princess.

Avi grabbed her nose. "It's just a nosebleed," she said, and though it was, it dripped nastily all over her silver jumpsuit. "Damn, now my hands are gonna be sticky."

Roxy bit her lip. "I think we should call Lysis and Saf. Dragon knows we've already scared poor Katt enough… maybe she'll listen to them?"

Angrily, the fairy of tools stood up. "What, do you think we can't do it on our own?"

"I never said…"

"Look, I know you're cautious after what happened in Kentucky, but that's no reason to not go after our goals with all the force we can manage." Avi cracked her knuckles. Blood dribbled down her face, off of her chin, and onto her sparkly silver jumpsuit. "I love Saf, and you know it, but between her and Lysis, we'll never get anything done. Saf's cautious, and Lysis doesn't think we can do anything, so she doesn't even let us try. Aren't you eager to prove them wrong?"

"Well, yes, but…"

Avi wiped her bloody nose on her arm, her brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Well then, let's go do it!"

* * *

"You know," said Saf, "I never really get to spend time with you or get to know you. One of us is always off with the others, it seems."

Lysis's normally solemn face cracked a half-smile. "Well, someone has to watch them and make sure they don't get into any trouble."

"You think they'll be okay now?"

"I hope so." Lysis's half smile became a completely full one. Her face looked youthful and untroubled. "It's very hard to imagine them stirring something up in a place as timeless and lovely as this."

Saf was opening her mouth to agree when a tiny redhead fell from the sky, and landed on Lysis, knocking the older fairy onto the ground. " _Uff!"_ exclaimed the girl, making it sound vaguely like a curse, then added a half-hearted " _Oi!_ " by means of apology as she broke into a run.

From the ground, Lysis lifted her head to watch the girl run off. "You know, I'm starting to think…"

Two blurs of color, green and silver, flew right over Saf and Lysis. "Perhaps we were wrong?" Saf finished.

Lysis narrowed her eyes as she stood. "Yes, exactly."

In flashes of blue and teal, the two transformed and rushed to meet up with their friends. "What in the world is going on?" Saf asked Roxy as soon as they were near.

"We found Katt!" replied the princess. "She's scared! Killian told her something, and she seems to be afraid of us, and she's really elusive."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Lysis.

Roxy seemed to be taken aback. "I… I want to hear your ideas first," she said after a beat.

Lysis stopped pursuing, and Saf and Roxy followed her lead, leaving only Avi chasing after Katt. "Chasing is no good. She knows these streets, and fear only makes people desperate. You saw what happened with Amanda."

Saf and Roxy nodded. Though at first the gravity of what they'd driven their friend to do (no pun intended) did not sink in, they later realized that had Amanda's wings not made an appearance, the teen would have died. Realizing that Katt may also find herself in danger if she felt threatened also brought on the realization that she may not be so lucky. "Every little thing is life and death now, isn't it?" Saf whispered, and Roxy sighed in solemn agreement.

Then, Roxy lifted her head confidently. "Fly towards those alleyways." She pointed downwards at a series of small, narrow passages that were not paved, but rather had wooden floors. "Make sure she doesn't see you. Then detransform and wait for her. She's expecting me or Avi, so you two may be able to catch her off guard. If you do, use any method you need to in order to subdue her and calm her down. If you can't do that, transform and find me and we'll try a different method."

Saf felt a twinge of pride in regards to her friend. Roxy was often so worried about her leadership skills, sometimes even allowing her doubt to cloud her judgement. However, there were times when she could make any war general jealous of her calm command.

Lysis and Saf flew off towards their stations. Before landing, Saf turned to Lysis. "We should split up," she suggested. "It'll make us look less threatening, and give us a better chance to run into her."

"I agree. Good luck, Safeyah."

"And to you as well, Lysis."

* * *

If Avi paused to think, she could probably have found lots of reasons why her reckless pursuit of Katt was not a good idea, including, but not limited to, the fact that her nose was still extremely bloody and the realization that her friends were no longer beside her. However, Avi was not one for thinking much beyond the immediate, so the only problem she could find was a sudden mouthful of long underwear.

"Ack!" she exclaimed, spitting it out as she glanced behind her to shoot a mean glance at the clothesline she had run into. She stuck out her tongue, then looked forward again, barely in time to swerve so she missed a protruding bit of roof.

Katt had led her out of the lovely Sandviken area of Bergen and into the slightly different, but equally beautiful Bryggen. Avi felt a small pang of admiration. It was a _brilliant_ move, for Katt at least. There were many low roofs, stairways, railings, and other platforms for her to utilize. In addition, the narrow alleys made a fairy's flight difficult, to say the least.

The new fairy had gained so much ground that she was almost out of Avi's line of sight. Avi saw her in the distance, leaping from one roof to another. She would have been impressed if the roofs were not so close to one another; she supposed that it was still fairly good, considering the girl didn't have wings yet to catch her if she fell.

As though her thought jinxed it, Katt slipped.

Avi's eyes widened as she watched the redheaded teen dangle, hanging onto the roof for dear life. For a moment, she stared in shock. Then, she had an idea. If she caught Katt and set her down gently, the girl would _have_ to know that they meant her no harm. Right?

Avi began to fly closer, preparing to catch Katt. She was right under the fairy when she noticed that Katt was hoisting herself up, using an amazing amount of arm strength to do so. Within a few seconds, she was fully back on the roof, running like nothing had happened.

"What the crap?!" exclaimed Avi. "Hey, Katt! I was supposed to catch you!"

Katt turned around, started running backwards, made a face at Avi, did a couple backflips, and then turned back around to face forwards and kept running. The fairy of tools narrowed her eyes. "Oh, it is _on!_ " she yelled.

"Avi?" yelled Saf from nearby. Avi looked around until she saw her best friend waving from a nearby alley. Cursing, she flew down to meet her friend, who did not look pleased. "Avi, stop antagonizing her and chase her towards me and Lysis, please? We'll explain to her, and the whole mess will get cleared up."

"Antagonizing her?" shrieked Avi. " _I'm_ antagonizing _her?_ Look, I just want to talk, but she won't give me a chance!"

"Yes, I understand that," said Saf, with more patience than Avi thought necessary. "Please, just try to ignore your pride and help us do this diplomatically. You can even scare her towards us, if it makes you feel better, but we really need your help."

"Really? Cause it sounds to me like you just wanna do it your way."

Saf looked taken aback.

Avi continued. "Every time I have an idea, it turns out to be a bad one! Go to Kentucky? Chase Katt down? Burst in to rescue you? Even fighting Trudric! But guess what? Whenever I do something like that, I'm always interrupted! Maybe, just maybe, if I could be allowed to do things the way I wanted to do them, maybe then they'd work. If Lysis didn't insist on talking to Roxy, or if you guys didn't try to call me off the chase… if all of you didn't fly me out of the fight with Trudric… heck, if when I came to try to take you back home, you didn't tell me everything was fine!"

Unexpectedly for both of the girls, Avi began to cry. "I feel like I can't do anything right, and now Katt's gonna be driven right into Killian's arms, and all because of _me._ "

That was the problem, what she couldn't say outright. Maybe sometimes, maybe even often, her brute force would work. Sometimes, though, and today was looking like one of those times, it only served to make things worse.

If Katt was captured by the Apprentices, the blame would be placed on Avi.

* * *

Katt had reached the harbor by the time she felt safe enough to stop. Her entire body ached, and her lungs burned, begging her for air. She breathed in the scent of salty sea as she tried to appease her needs. She felt quite a bit better by the time a hand rested on her shoulder.

She turned to face it, prepared to run faster and farther, only to find that it was Bertram. Relieved and scared in equal measure, she collapsed into his chest, squeezing her eyes tight so the tears wouldn't start, so that her brave face remained on. "What is going on, Bertram? Who are you? Who are those two girls?"

"Do you really want to know?" he asked gently. She nodded. "Fine. I am a wizard."

"Like… like the kind on television?" She had seen news stories about a group of evil wizards who had nearly committed a mass genocide and wiped out the fairy race. " _Sorte Veivisere?_ " she clarified, using her country's name for the Wizards of the Black Circle.

"I am not one of the Black Wizards, Katt," Bertram promised. "In fact, I think they were very foolish. Still, my magic is similar to theirs in many ways."

"Were the people chasing after me fairies?"

"Yes. They'd see me dead if they had their shot."

She frowned. "So why would they chase after me, then, and not you?"

Bertram cupped her head in his hands gently. "There's something I hoped I wouldn't have to tell you until we knew each other better… you have innate magic, and I think you have the ability to become a wizard."

Katt took a step backwards. "What?"

"You're strong, smart, and very, very brave. You exist in two culture, always giving something up in favor of the other one. You are constantly making sacrifices, and that, Catherine Bloom, is what makes a wizard."

"I have magic? I'm a wizard?"

"Not yet. But you could be, and a very good one I'd bet."

She looked at her hands, as if they were already shooting off sparks. Her legs chose that moment to seemingly turn to jelly, and she landed on her knees, slightly in shock. "How…?"

Bertram kneeled down so he was face to face with her again. "There are three steps to the ritual. First, we need…"

"Stop!" yelled a low voice in English, complete with a slight British accent.

Katt and Bertram looked up, and the man narrowed his eyes. "You again."

There were not two girls this time, but four. The pink haired one from before was in the center of the new girls, and the one who was so intent on pursuit lingered a little behind. Speaking was a lovely girl with dark brown hair and a neat, professional appearance. "Katt, he's lying to you. Don't trust him."

"I never said a single lie," said Bertram in Norwegian, and Katt instinctively believed him.

"He's using a truth spell," said a mature-looking blonde. "He must be being very careful with what he says, because each word will automatically make those nearby feel if it is something that is true, or if it is a lie. I don't even speak Norwegian, but I can feel the validity of his words from here. Can't you?"

The other girls nodded. "What do we do?" asked the punk.

"The only thing we can. We have a truth-off." She smiled darkly, and she made a sweeping motion with her hands. " _Proofius Theoriosis!_ " she yelled, and the gleam of the cast magic was only matched by the gleam in her eyes.


	16. Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A contest of truths turns quickly into new opinions and ideals as a villain's past is revealed to Katt and the Core Four.

The blonde woman snapped her fingers. "Until the magic is revoked, each statement anyone here says will be immediately revealed as either a truth, a lie, or an opinion." Katt felt the truth of the statement like a warm blanket over her heart and was momentarily amazed. How could that happen? "We, the fairies of Tir Nan Og who are assigned to find new fairies on order of our Queen Nebula, agree not to raise a hand against anyone until Katt has chosen a side."

"I agree to the same terms." Bertram grinned. "Now, how do we do this? I'd say Katt should ask the questions, she has a right to, but I doubt she knows what questions to ask."

" _Ja_ ," Katt agreed.

"Katt, are you able to speak English? It'd be nice if we could understand you." The British fairy gave a sympathetic smile. "Unfortunately, none of us speak any Scandinavian languages, or I wouldn't ask."

She shrugged and switched languages easily. "Sure."

"What if we both present our cases?" asked the pink haired girl. "He can go first, of course." Her violet eyes flashed amber and her voice seemed to present a challenge, as though Bertram going first was a benefit for them.

Bertram, for his part, smiled graciously. "As you wish. My story, then."

* * *

_In many ways, the Norway of the year 1165 was much like it was in 2015. In many ways, however, it was different._

_Magnus Erlingsson was a young king, not even as old as Bertram Magnusson himself. The civil war era was in its height, but to young Bertram, only seventeen, all that mattered was survival. His family was one of the remaining few that still owned their own farm, and keeping it that way was a matter of family pride. "Let the pigs on the farm get fatter, so the pigs in the churches do not," his father would whisper._

_If Bertram had ever had one strength, it was his dedication to learning about that which he cared for. He grew to become one of the best pig farmers anyone he knew had seen. His father was ecstatic, sure that the farm would never be threatened. With profits and the out of the way location, there was no reason for anyone other than Bertram and his family to touch the bacon._

_When the end came, they did not expect it to be from a lovely woman._

_Bertram was brilliant, but without a suitor. The woman who sought shelter at their farm was lovely, and the silken clothes that decorated her seemed to speak of a high status. Yet, she was delicate, clearly pained. In hopes of gaining her favor, they took care of her. She named herself as Sibylla, and Bertram fell for her hard and fast. Where in the cases of many men, that would cause their productivity to decline, for Bertram, it only motivated him more. At Sibylla's urging, he began to add more animals to his farm, and profits soared. He was amazed and fell harder, promising always to respect this woman… for now, a business partner, but hopefully soon a wife._

_Soon, she revealed her secret, the reason her intuition was so keen and her appearance so lovely. She was a fairy, a commander of the power over prosperity, and the youngest sister of the fairy queen Morgana. In a time dangerous for fairies, her family had begged her to seek sanctuary among humans in faraway lands. Bertram's farm fit the bill. Sibylla gave a wry smile. Wouldn't her sisters be surprised when they learned she had found not only safety, but human love? She warned him that they may not approve, but neither would they interfere, and asked him to take her as his wife. Bertram agreed instantly._

_Only a day before their wedding did his world fall to pieces with the arrival of not one, but both factions in the war Sibylla had fought so hard to escape. Four wizards and four new fairies faced each other on the farm… the Black Circle had hunted down Sibylla, knowing of her power and connections, and her protective sisters Morgana and Nebula, plus their handmaidens, had followed to defend her. As the battle raged on, the fairies screamed at Sibylla to run, but she refused to leave her love._

_As time passed, the handmaidens were shot down, and the fairies became outnumbered. They retreated into the forest, and Sibylla faced Bertram with a heavy heart. "I must go help my sisters, but I will be back. I promise."_

_So she left, and Bertram fretted for his fiancé until deep in the night… when suddenly, he was forced to fret about himself._

_The wizard Ogron tied him up, gagged him, and stuffed him into a potato sack, casting a spell that allowed Bertram to be carted around with ease. He paraded the poor farmer towards the battle, then revealed him to the fairies, a horrified Sibylla included. "You love this man," mocked Ogron. "So here's our bargain – give yourself up, and we will set him free."_

_Bertram would have rather died than have Sibylla leave him, but with the bitter taste of cloth in his mouth, he could not say as much. He saw in her eyes that she would do anything for his sake… of course she would, despite the wishes that he could not communicate. He vowed, sorrow in his heart, that when she was taken he would fight tooth and claw to get her back, for he loved her, and she loved him._

" _I vow," she said, "to never love and to forsake my power to gain the true meaning of justice."_

_The world seemed to stop._

_What followed was a spell, elaborate and long, that stripped Sibylla of her very being. It stripped her of her ability of love and hate, her prosperity magic, her strong, but sensitive, character, even her relationship with her sisters. It stripped her of any humanity a fairy could have and left only an empty vessel, content, but never truly happy, to deliver verdict on right and wrong._

_Ogron dropped Bertram, knowing that no longer would the human hold sway over the fairies. Bertram scuttled off, feeling half-dead. Sibylla could no longer love him, and he could no longer love what she had become. She must have known that he would go free, but what was her thought process other than that? Did she think he would like her better changed and free than herself and captured?_

_Did he? Was there a correct answer?_

_As he stood in shock, surrounded by his pigs, unable to cry, Ogron came back. No indication remained of Sibylla's fate. "Look what she did to you," said the wizard. "Look how worthless a human was in the end. Wouldn't you choose to be stronger, so when you meet again, you may face her as equals?"_

" _The Sibylla I knew is dead," said Bertram._

_Ogron smiled. It was surprisingly sympathetic. "She killed herself, the little witch. Won't you have your revenge?"_

_The wizard walked Bertram through the ritual of sacrifice. By morning, his pigs were all dead and his very being overflowed with power and promises of training, of knowledge, and of a day where he could curse fairies for their fickle, disposable love._

_After all… fairies are nothing but pain._

* * *

A silence fell over the five listening girls as Killian… Bertram… concluded his story, and all could feel the truth of it. "I gave up my name and my life to vengeance," he snarled. "And I shall have it. I won't allow fairies to force their own will upon anyone else without consent ever again."

"Oh, like you did any better!" Avi shot back. "So your girlfriend saved your life! This is how you repay her?" The feelings of an opinion rang out.

"I never asked for my life to be saved. She killed herself, didn't you hear? She killed herself, and with her, she took me. I would choose to find myself again, and this is how I will choose to do it." Killian's eyes flashed darkly, and he turned to Katt. "You see, Catherine, you have a choice. You can come with me and learn the secrets of sacrifice, or you can go with the fairies and become my enemy. It is all on you."

Katt opened her mouth to answer, but Lysis interrupted. "Nice try, Killian. We haven't presented our part yet." Truth.

He sneered. "What could you say that could compete with my truth?" Opinion.

Lysis seemed speechless, and Roxy decided to step up and take the lead. "Katt!" she called out. "I want you to know that none of us had any idea about what happened. And… Killian… Bertram… I feel bad for him. Sibylla is my aunt and I can see how she is never truly happy. I can only imagine what she must have been like nine hundred years ago."

Killian turned away.

"Fairies sometimes do bad things, make horrible decisions, when we're at war. That's how history, even human history, goes. But here's the thing; Killian is trying to sell you the past, true as it is. We want to give you the future."

Roxy saw Saf's eyes light up, and the dark-haired girl began to add to Roxy's words. "Sibylla wanted safety in a world that had none. We have safety. Perhaps not much, but enough. Those fairies of so long ago believed in safety by setting yourself apart."

Lysis nodded. "That's true. Agrippine. Sibylla. They left their fairy friends and tried to find safety alone."

Saf nodded. "We stand together. Our safety is in numbers, and we don't have many now, but every girl who makes the difficult decision and joins us means we're a little safer."

"We have a school!" added Avi. "I mean, that's more of a con than a pro, but I've never felt threatened at the Royal Fairy Academy. I mean, apart from during Lysis's counseling sessions…"

Lysis glared at Avi, who promptly shut up. "Katt," said Roxy, "we'll do everything in our power to give you a normal life, plus magic."

"A normal life?" Katt asked slowly.

The Core Four nodded. "It's up to you, but that's what we can offer. I don't know what Killian has in store… he hasn't really said much about it, has he?"

Killian seemed unshaken. "Power beyond what any fairy could comprehend. Fellowship. Humanity."

"He truly believes it," Lysis whispered to Roxy. "Can you feel it?"

Roxy could, and it made her nervous. A villain who believed he was doing the right thing was much stronger than a villain who knew he was wrong. This villain wasn't just convinced he was good, he truly was powerful, so powerful that even outnumbering him and his friends, the younger fairies stood no chance. Even Bloom, so powerful, hadn't been able to scratch him, though granted, he hadn't managed to injure her, either. After a moment of reflection, Roxy realized she'd never seen him try. Whether that was scarier or more reassuring, she wasn't sure.

"Well?" said Killian. "Make your decision."

Katt looked to Lysis, then to Roxy. She looked back to Killian, then to Saf and Avi.

Then, she jumped up and began to run.

* * *

For the second time, Katt found herself trying to race a myriad of magical beings. This time, however, was different than the first. When she first started running, she felt purposeful and brave, every step the calculated pace of an athlete. Now, she was running away from her problems, and doing a very sloppy job of it, almost tripping several times.

How did she get a problem of this caliber, this quickly? It was only an hour and a half ago her mother sent her out. The goal had been to grab some _pålegg_ and get home to spend time with her dad. Now, tears were streaming down her face as she ran back to her apartment empty-handed. How was she going to explain everything to them?

Behind her, she could hear the fairies and Bertram… Killian? All were calling out to her. All sounded like they genuinely cared. Couldn't one faction seem evil? Why did both have to seem kind, relatively sane, genuinely concerned for her?

After a few minutes, the calling stopped, and Katt couldn't hear anything behind her. She paused her running, taking deep, choking breaths, and wiping her eyes and running nose on her sleeve.

Then, strong, muscular arms latched onto her from behind. Katt cursed and tried to elbow her captor in the face, but he neatly ducked. "Calm down, I just want to talk," Bertram/Killian said in Norwegian. Katt could still hear the truth, but it was almost an afterthought… the spell seemed to be wearing off.

"You had your chance," she said with a sniffle.

"You didn't choose what you want."

"I don't _know_ what I want."

"That's fair enough." He paused and turned her around. She let him, let him gently wipe her tears away. "As I said… I wished I wouldn't have to tell you so soon."

Almost a full minute of silence passed before Katt felt the truth of that. She wondered if he knew his spell was almost gone.

"I don't want this to be hard on you. Still, there's not much of a choice now. You do have to make a decision. But perhaps… perhaps I can make it easier on you." He smiled. "I'll… I'll promise you something. You stay at their school, you don't go on any missions, don't talk to any potential fairies before they've made their own choice, and I won't raise a hand to you, ever. If you are the last fairy on Earth, I still won't harm you."

Katt blinked back tears and was quiet until, ninety seconds later, she felt the truth. Then, she felt a snap, which she instinctively understood as the end of the spell.

"Why?" she asked him.

Bertram took a deep breath. "I was raised in a different time. A sexist time," he admitted. "My father always said he would whip me if I made a girl cry. I didn't know that would come of this, but I can do what I can to make amends. There, I've made your choice for you. Go with the fairies. Stay in the school and don't interfere in this war. And… and if you ever feel brave enough to make the choice for yourself, then step outside and call my name."

"Which one?"

He waved the question off. "It doesn't matter. Just know this: you can turn a fairy into a wizard, but it's in rare circumstances that a wizard can become a fairy."

"Huh?"

Bertram shot her one last smile and began to hover off the ground. "Oh, one last thing. Don't tell the fairies I let you go. I have a reputation to maintain. Tell them you made your own choice. If they pry, just clam up and act traumatized."

"Wait…"

It was too late. He snapped his fingers and was gone.

* * *

"Katt?"

The girl looked up at Saf. Her eyes were wet and red. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" asked the lightning fairy. "You seemed very upset."

"I needed to think," said Katt. "I'll… I'll come with you."

Saf smiled. "That's great! Why don't we go tell your parents?"

"Where are the others?" Katt asked, not responding.

"We all figured you needed some space. They sent me to look after you because they decided I was the most… ah… _tactful_. If you're ready to go, we really should leave. We don't know when Killian will find you, and trust me, you don't want to be alone with him. He almost killed my friends."

The truth spell on the fairies had worn off, and Saf mentally cursed. It would have been better for everyone if Katt could know that to be a statement of fact. Too late.

Katt smiled through her tears. "Let's go tell my parents, then. I doubt they'll believe me, but it's worth a shot."

* * *

Katt Bloom did not leave for America with the travel team, though all four of them protested. She spent the weekend with her family, as planned, and since she didn't come back with food, they went out for lunch.

On Monday morning, she and her parents went into her secondary school and withdrew. Katt hugged Solveig good bye and smiled sadly at all her programme friends, hoping they couldn't see her weariness, her reluctance to leave.

She looked for Bertram among the groups of VG3 students. He wasn't there.

That night, she hugged her mother good bye. "You can always come back," whispered her mom as they held each other.

"As soon as I'm eighteen and good at magic," Katt whispered back. "I'll come back and complete secondary school, promise."

"I'll remember that." Her mother pulled back. "Call me. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

She boarded the same plane to America as her father did, and when they landed, he drove her to the school himself, and she went through a similar exchange with him. Then, she was alone.

All it would take to join Bertram would be a call. She didn't know what would happen but… odd as it was… she trusted him. Odd as it was, she also trusted the fairies who waited inside the old wooden doors of the fairy school.

Katt thought of Sibylla, the fairy of justice, who took it upon herself to make decisions without worry of good versus evil, only judging the fairness of the actions. She thought of the scorn she seemed to face for not being able to differentiate, and she felt a pang of sympathy for this thousand year old fairy she had never met. In truth, it seemed Katt was not able to differentiate either.

"I wish you hadn't had to tell me so soon," she said, echoing the wizard's sentiment. "If only…"

His name was on her lips, but Katt did not speak it. Instead, she smiled and opened the door to the Royal Fairy Academy.


	17. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise on television leads Saf and her friends to Sydney, Australia to confront a long forgotten past.

"So tell me again, everything that you think I need to know," said Bloom. Her red hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, and her old, ratty red tee shirt read "You can't hold a candle to me." For all the world, she looked like a college student, not a college headmistress.

Lysis steepled her fingers. "Killian, formerly Bertram, was once the fiancé of the major fairy Sibylla. His motive seems to be vengeance on her and on all other fairies rather than continuing the exact work of the Black Circle. They found their interest in power, while from what I've gathered, he'd be just as happy to see us all dead."

"I object to that," Saf said, frowning. "He has the power to kill us all, and the only thing that has seemingly stopped him and the others so far is the appearance of Bloom… who, I might add, he does not seem concerned about. He wants us alive. They all do, from what I can tell."

Roxy nodded. "I agree. Still, we've gotten lucky. We've gotten really close to finding out what they want from us the _hard_ way."

Silence fell upon the table where Bloom and the Core Four sat, analyzing the results of the latest mission. "So, what do we do?" asked Avi after a moment. "As much as I hate to say it, beating them up directly doesn't seem to be working too hot."

"Why don't we go visit Sibylla and ask her to talk to him?" suggested Roxy. "He said he didn't see her after she took the Vow of Justice, so maybe she could talk some sense into him."

"No," said Lysis and Bloom at the same time, then Bloom took over, gently. "As you heard, she has no reason to care for him anymore, and besides, getting involved in a war like this goes against what she has promised to do."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Roxy sighed. "I wish you weren't, though. I want to talk to her… I had no clue she was my aunt."

"She isn't, anymore," said Lysis. "Her vow severed family love as well as romantic. Only blood links you anymore, and as I think we've all learned at some point or another, blood is not nearly the most important part of a family."

* * *

Despite Bloom's attempted brevity, by the time the girls were released from the meeting, classes were over and the weekend had begun. Roxy, Saf, and Avi walked into the downstairs common room to find all the other students of the Royal Fairy Academy huddled around the television. "Jeez, what's so special on TV?" asked Avi. "Some awards show?"

Amanda shook her head. "No. The news."

"You're watching the news?" Roxy asked, surprised. It wasn't uncommon for it to be turned on, but for every student to be huddled around it… "What's happening?"

"You're going to want to see this," Leilani said, her voice low and the kind of calm that hides surprise or even fear.

Avi, Saf, and Roxy looked at each other, and then to the television.

Onscreen, four girls in matching outfits were shown in a sort of montage. They helped kittens out of trees, pushed beached whales back into the ocean, received awards for turning in a major criminal. On each of their faces were sparkly masquerade-style masks; on each of their backs were wings.

The announcer commented in a droning, professional tone. "These four girls, collectively calling themselves the Heart Holders, have taken Australia… and the rest of the world… by storm. In the style of most superheroes, they choose to remain anonymous as they do their work for good. However, can that last for long in today's curious and technologically driven world?"

It cut to a video of one of the girls. Red hair fell in soft waves over her pale skin and down to her waist, and under her intricate silver mask, dark blue eyes shimmered. The bottom of the screen identified her as Ocean Heart. "I believe we'll be forced to reveal ourselves someday, but for now it isn't practical! I hope that changes! I really want to share my hopes and dreams with all of you someday!"

"Whoa," said Roxy. "She's like a JPop idol! I didn't realize people like that even existed."

The video shifted to another girl, identified as Void Heart. She had black hair and seemed to be Asian, though her Phantom of the Opera-esque mask hid a good portion of her face. She scoffed, her arms crossed. "I like my privacy, and I'm entitled to it. I'm just a kid. Are you even supposed to be talking to me? Is this legal? I'm going to call my lawy-" She was abruptly cut off.

Next up was a tan girl with strawberry-blonde hair, cut into a cute short style and gelled all over so it spiked up in an unpredictable way. She was named as Fire Heart. "Look, here's the thing. You've got me in a position where I have to _talk to the world_ about my privacy? Isn't that a little… weird?"

Finally, the last girl was shown, a tall young woman with medium brown skin and dark hair, who the bottom of the screen called Mindful Heart. She was laughing, softly. "We're all different people, people who happen to be teammates. You aren't going to get one answer, you know."

Next to Avi and Roxy, Saf froze up. The two girls looked to her. "Are you okay?" asked Avi. "Do we need to get Lysis?"

"I'm fine," Saf whispered. "It's just… it's just…"

"Just what?"

" _I know her,_ " said Saf as she stared at the girl on television with a look that could only be described as shock.

* * *

As soon as the girls had found a relatively private place and chased off the last of the paparazzi, they detransformed, letting the sparkles of their superhero identities fade into normal schoolgirl clothing. "Way to ham it up, Adaline," commented the one formerly known as Fire Heart to her redheaded best friend. "You sounded like an advertisement for pep pills."

Adaline didn't seem perturbed in the least. "Oh, you know I like the limelight, Ildri," she responded cheerfully. "You could do to be a little more enthusiastic, anyway."

Ildri snorted and pulled a brush from a large pocket, then proceeded to brush out some of her hair gel… she'd be damned if she would let her distinct hair give her away. "I was fine. Evanne on the other hand…"

"Hey!" protested Evanne Li with narrowed eyes, flipping her dark hair back. "I refuse to let the media chase me around, so I become the buzzkill?"

"You said the word buzzkill, not me." Ildri's eyes sparkled as she tried to stifle a laugh.

"Girls!"

Ildri, Evanne, and Adaline looked to the speaker, their leader. Known to the media only as Mindful Heart, the girl had a mature yet youthful air to her. Despite that, her friends knew that she could be… and usually was… like any other teenage girl, complete with overly controlling parents, and the occasional attitude problem. Despite that, they looked up to the founder of the Heart Holders. Sassy like Ildri, intelligent like Evanne, and a quintessential fashionista like Adaline, she was the only one that could hold the Heart Holders together. Her name was Zoe Barton.

"Look, I don't like my privacy being violated any more than the next girl. In fact, I barely even like people at all." Ildri snickered at Zoe's words. "The fact is, however, that as long as we use these powers, we're going to be in the public eye, and we are each allowed to deal with that the way we want to. Evanne can scare the media off, Adaline can bask in it, Ildri can do… whatever it was she was doing…"

"Hey!" protested the girl as she combed the last of the gel out.

"The only thing we must remember is that nobody should know who we are yet," Zoe continued, not acknowledging her friend's outburst. "I feel like that's very, very important. I feel like our worst dangers are yet to come."

* * *

"So wait, Mindful Heart is your _cousin?_ " Amanda said in shock.

Saf nodded. "My mother was her sister. We haven't seen each other in over ten years, but that must be her. I can't imagine there are many multiethnic girls who look a lot like my family in Australia."

Cell phone out and displaying a picture of Mindful Heart, Avi held it up to Saf's face. "You two do have the same eyes, and the same hair color. Her skin's a lot lighter, though, and her nose is shaped differently. Definitely could be related, but at the same time, if she isn't I wouldn't be surprised either."

"That's the thing about cousins, it's always so hard to tell," Leilani agreed. "Is it worth doing anything? Is there anything we can do? We should probably tell Lysis and Bloom, at least. If the Heart Holders are on television, it's only a matter of when the Apprentices decide to go after them."

Avi frowned. "Except one thing… so far, the Apprentices have targeted fairies who haven't discovered their powers or aren't very good with them. Me, and Marea, and Katt!"

"Marea was a special case, though!" Light protested.

"True, but the point stands. So far, all the relatively trained fairies haven't been targeted unless they attacked or confronted the Apprentices first!"

Silence fell over the group. "I never would have expected that revelation from Avi of all people, but she's right," Leilani agreed. "In addition, there was some targeting of me, and I don't have powers. Could it be that they're scared?"

"But they could defeat us easily," Roxy noted bitterly. "Why be scared?"

"They could be scared of assumptions. Scared of what you could say to turn fairies to your side." Everyone looked at Katt, the speaker. "They're recruiting. You're recruiting. It's not worth it to them to try and change someone's mind. They just want to find people who haven't yet had the choice of fairies, who have only been exposed to the wizards. One problem with their plan, though. The travel team's too quick and always manages to foil their recruitment, so far at least."

"That'd be another reason the Heart Holders are safe. They've already made a decision as to their alignment. It just isn't a reason we thought would exist. They made their own faction." Leilani shook her head disbelievingly. "Of course it would happen! We should have prepared for it."

"So, what are you guys gonna do?" asked Macy. She stood next to Leilani and grasped the older girl's arm for comfort.

Leilani was firm. "Tell the adults."

Everyone looked to Saf, who seemed hesitant. Eventually, however, she spoke, her estuary accent ringing out in the silence. "I'm going to visit her and make sure that it's Zoe and not someone random. We'll go from there."

* * *

Saf Hafeij thought that getting to Australia would be the difficult part. She was hoping it would be, hoping it would put her off of this mission. She didn't want to go. She didn't want to face her past, this long lost family she hadn't spoken to or visited since the death of her mother back when she was nine. She didn't want to explain that she couldn't talk to them, that it was too much of a reminder, that every time she looked at her aunt Khadijah she couldn't help but cry.

If she had to do it… and it seemed more and more likely that she had to… it was going to be on her terms. She didn't want Lysis to see her this upset. She didn't want anyone to see her this upset, but neither did she intend to go alone and end up dead. Besides, it turned out there was no way to go alone. It would be a 30 hour wing flight nonstop, something no fairy could handle.

"I have a solution!" Light said with a grin when Saf brought up her concern. The Solarian fairy was always up for mischief, and a forbidden mission was exactly her thing. "My Solarian charm!"

"I thought you couldn't use that to teleport other people?" asked Roxy.

Light shook her head. "I can't teleport more than like, three others besides myself, and someone has to know where we're going. Obviously with a group of five and no clue as to where we were headed, the Marea Rescue Mission was impossible. This, however, isn't. Saf, just pick who you want to go with you, and we're all set."

"Of course it'll be the travel team!" Avi said, fistpumping as she did.

Saf, however, shook her head. "That will look suspicious. Really suspicious. We aren't doing anything really wrong, but I don't want anyone to go after us all the same. I'm going to vary it a little."

Avi looked disappointed, but shrugged. "Your choice."

Roxy put an arm around her friend. "Cheer up! This likely isn't a beat 'em up mission anyway."

"Cheer up because I'm _taking you,_ " Saf corrected. "You're my best friend, it won't look too suspicious. Roxy's the one I'm leaving."

Avi brightened. Roxy's face fell. "Oh," said the fairy of animals sourly.

"Me because she's my cousin. Avi because she's my best friend, and because someone has to defend us if things go wrong. Light because she's transportation, and… and Leilani, will you come?"

"What?" Leilani looked shocked. She had one hand over her heart, eyes wide. "Me? But I… I don't have magic!"

"You have a voice of reason, and if Light's transporting us, there's no need for magic. Besides, nobody would dare suspect us of trouble while you're around," Saf reasoned.

Leilani nodded mutely, clearly pleased.

"Ready to go then?" asked Light. She was almost jumping up and down excitedly.

Saf shook her head. "No, if we're to do this, we're to do this the honest way."

Light looked considerably less excited, but listened to Saf's explanation.

* * *

"Headmistress Bloom?"

Bloom looked up from the papers she was reading to see Safeyah Hafeij, Light de Luz, Leilani Castro, and Avalon Masterson standing at the door to her office. She blinked. It was an odd combination of girls. Seeing Saf and Avi together wasn't uncommon, nor was seeing Saf and Leilani. Light generally only hung out with Marea and Amanda, however, and if Saf was anywhere near her fellow "good girl" Leilani, Avi was off with Roxy. "Yes?" she asked curiously.

"I hate to bother you, but I was wondering if I could go visit my aunt and uncle over the weekend. I'll be back by Monday," Saf asked, looking anxious.

"Are the rest of you going with her?" asked Bloom.

"I need Light to transport us, Leilani's the adult chaperone, and Avi is my best friend," Saf explained.

It seemed reasonable enough. Still, Bloom had enough intuition to be worried. "Where will you be off to?"

"Sydney, Australia. I know it's a ways away, but we'll be careful, I promise!"

Bloom bit her lip. "You may go, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"A tracking spell. If you go anywhere outside of Sydney, I'll know. Don't step foot outside the city until you're back here. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," said all four girls in perfect unison.

Bloom waved her hand. "Alright, the spell is done. Have a good weekend, and I'll see you on Monday!"

"See you!" the girls agreed, then Light took her necklace off and handed it to Saf. "Focus on the location… do you have it… okay! Here we go!"

Then, they were gone, leaving Bloom to wonder whether or not she had made a good decision.

* * *

"Here's the Hotel Barton, ladies. That'll be seventy-six sixty-three."

Saf handed the driver her credit card and he slipped the chip into the chip reader before handing it back. "Have a nice stay in Sydney, ladies," he added as the four girls got out of the vehicle.

"I'm lucky I had my card in my pocket," Saf said. "I forgot all other means of packing."

Light shrugged. "No worries. We can just summon anything we need to us."

"Or," suggested Avi, "we could have you do it for us, considering Leilani can't do it at all and Saf and I don't know how."

Not packing did seem to have disadvantages. The doorman at the super-fancy hotel looked at the girls with suspicion, but allowed them to pass anyway. "So tell me, Saf," Leilani asked. "Why are we at a five star hotel when we could just crowd into a thirty dollar a night motel and be fine? I know you and Avi are from decently well-off families, but still…"

"You're right, my family is decently well off. My aunt and uncle own this hotel," Saf admitted. "I don't know if we're staying here, but I do hope we can locate them."

The girls stared at Saf, then back to the large foyer they found themselves in. A modern crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and its reflection danced on the reflective floor. Black-colored baggage carts shifted across the large room, moved by pristine uniformed bellboys. A large and intricate oaken front desk greeted them and partially obscured views of a large fountain, while archways led into different rooms that seemed to include small stores, an indoor water park, and a restaurant and bar. "Whoa," breathed Leilani. "I feel very out of my element."

"You aren't the only one," Avi agreed. Her family wasn't poor by any means, but neither were they the type to stay in top of the line hotels.

Light shrugged. "Very fancy by Earth standards. Impressive, even. Solaria does it better, though."

Saf seemed mostly at ease, a contrast to her three friends. She walked up to the front desk. "Pardon me, are Julian and Khadijah Barton in?"

The woman who manned the hotel check-ins looked at her suspiciously. "Excuse me, do you have an appointment?" she asked in a tone that said she doubted it.

Smiling winningly, Saf responded, "I'm afraid I don't, but I'm the daughter of Khadijah's late sister Kalila. My name is Safeyah Hafeij. I decided to drop in to surprise them, but I didn't seem to remember that this might not be the best idea. I'm happy to verify my identity in any way possible."

The woman narrowed her eyes, but picked up a phone and began to dial. After a few beats, someone picked up on the other line. "Yes, Madam Barton, this is Avery Alexander at the front desk. You have a visitor who claims to be your niece… Safeyah Hafeij, about fourteen or fifteen years old? Oh!" Avery from the front desk looked surprised. "Yes, of course. I'll get her settled immediately. Yes. Thank you."

Avery hung up the phone, eyes wide. "Madam Barton will be down momentarily. May I get you young ladies anything?"

"No thank you. You've been an enormous help." Saf gave another grin. The rest of the girls tried to follow suit.

They sat down on a comfy modern sofa next to a transparent elevator, though may as well have not have at all. Within only a couple of minutes, a woman who must have been middle-aged but seemed infinitely more youthful was running over to meet them. "Safeyah, dear!" she cried in heavily-accented English. "How long has it been?"

"Ten years, _Khala,"_ Saf responded with a smile, though it seemed forced.

"Not since before your mother… my dear Kalila…"

Saf looked away. "I'm sorry I've not called or written."

Khadijah gave her niece a tight squeeze. "It's understandable. It must be hard for you to even see me." She looked to the three other girls. "We were twins," she explained. "Dear Safeyah's mother and I. Now, tell me, are you her friends?"

" _Khala_ , these are my schoolmates Avi Masterson, Leilani Castro, and Light de Luz. We attend the Royal Academy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania together." Avi, Leilani, and Light noted Saf's deliberate nonusage of the word "fairy."

"A boarding school?" guessed Khadijah. Saf nodded. "Oh, how refined! We considered sending Zoe off to one, but she was so strong-willed and insistent that she would hate it, and now she's eighteen. Whatever are you learning there?"

Saf's three classmates looked at each other, wondering how their friend would respond, but Saf didn't seem to hiccup. "All of our normal academic subjects, self-defense, and various other specialized classes. I believe Leilani's even taking an etiquette class, correct?" Leilani nodded… she really was. "It's a very prestigious school, hard to get into. I'm quite surprised I did."

"Is there royalty?" Khadijah seemed entranced by the idea.

"There are a couple princesses of… well, more obscure places. Light here is nobility." Light beamed, glad to have her status recognized. "It's not all like that, however. Avi's mother is a doctor and her father is a businessman." Saf skirted around the fact that Mr. Masterson's small business was a car repair shop. "Leilani is one of the brightest minds I know. Neither are exactly royalty, but both bring much to the school."

"Oh, if Zoe weren't nearly grown… maybe when Sandra's a little older!" Khadijah seemed to enjoy the idea. "Do give me the information of the school before you leave, won't you, dear?" Saf smiled, but did not answer. Her aunt seemed not to notice, rushing into a new conversation. "Do you ladies have a place to stay yet?"

"No, we don't. We're planning to get a place in one of those older chain hotels we saw near the airport…"

Avi and Light's jaws dropped. They hadn't been to the airport, and they certainly weren't planning to stay there when Saf's family…

Waving her arms, Khadijah cut her niece off. "No, you'll stay here. Are two rooms enough, or would you each need your own?"

"One room would be fine, _Khala_!"

"I insist." The older woman was firm, and she hugged Saf again, then drew back and seemed to grow stern. "I have but three conditions."

"Yes?"

"You are staying over the weekend? I assume it's a long weekend, then, and you are returning Sunday night?"

"Yes."

"Alright. You and your friends must all come to dinner tonight. Tomorrow, just you, just our family. And finally… you must spend time with your cousin Zoe. What a treat for her, to have a cousin close to her age, and perhaps you can convince her to listen to her parents and go to a good school with princesses and intellectuals, instead of those concerts she keeps wishing to attend with… oh, what are their names… Ricki? Brianna? Justine Baby? Whomever youths like now. Do you promise?"

The four girls grinned. It was everything they could want. "Yes," Saf said with a smile. "I promise."

* * *

"Oh my gosh! This is wonderful!" Light flopped onto one of the queen-sized beds. It immediately molded to suit her body. "Gosh, is this memory foam? I saw that on television… mmmm, we have to get this in the Solarian palaces…"

"So much for 'Earth's just okay,' Light, huh?" joked Leilani. She was sitting almost uncomfortably on the other bed in the room. "It's so big. No wonder Saf wanted us to stay in one room."

"According to her, the Hotel Barton also have suites that are like small apartments, but they were all booked. Can you imagine what they must be like compared to this?"

"That television _must_ be as big as the ones in theaters."

"Point out the one thing that Solaria can do better, huh? That's such primitive technology."

Leilani almost laughed, then her mood abruptly shifted. "This is so amazing. I could never afford to go anyplace at all when I was a kid, let alone a place like this. If we had to travel, we always stayed in a Motel Six or something similar. Once, we managed to get a bargain at a historic hotel in Chicago, but only because there had recently been rats found. They cleared them out, but the reputation took a hit…" She paused. "Look at me now. I'm a poor college student, and I'm hanging out with princesses and nobility! I'm staying in a five star hotel right now! I've got a full ride at a residential school! When did my life become a fairy tale?"

"The moment you began to believe in fairies," Light said with a smile.

Leilani laughed sharply. "That's so cliché."

A knock on their door caused both girls to look up. After a second, Light looked out the peephole, then smiled and opened the door. Saf and Avi stood there, and Avi did not look pleased. "May we come in?" asked Saf politely.

Light moved away to allow them to come through. Even with four girls, the room still seemed huge. "What's up, Saf?"

"My aunt sent a request for us to meet them at the Restaurant Barton… it's attached to the hotel, I don't know if you saw it when we came in or not. However, it's a more formal restaurant… well, technically, it's considered _casual elegant_. Aunt Khadijah assured me that no one would bother us if we came in with our usual clothing, but that's only due to their ownership of the premises. I'd prefer that we not stand out too much if I can help it."

Light's eyes lit up. "Oh, I think I see what you're getting at. Everyone, back up."

Everyone looked worried, Saf included… she definitely didn't seem like this is what she had in mind. Light waved her hands around daintily. " _Lightspeed Redress!"_ she exclaimed, and just as Avi took one last giant step back, a wardrobe appeared in the middle of the room. As the three other girls stared in awe and a small amount of abject horror, Light opened the wardrobe cheerily. "Just as I hoped, all my best clothes are still in here! Alright everyone, tell me your sizes."

"First," Saf said shakily, "tell me that you can get that thing out of here when we're finished."

* * *

They arrived at dinner right on time, each looking like royalty. The wardrobe that Light had summoned was special, existing in an alternate dimension, so though it was normally in her room in Solaria, it possessed the ability to come to Earth and back despite the barrier. "Could a fairy hop inside it as it teleports?" asked Leilani, hoping to find a way to overcome the problem.

Light shook her head. "Nope. There's some complicated physics to it, but basically the very existence of this wardrobe or any outfits inside are just illusions made out of magic and sunlight!"

For a while after that, the three Earthlings were understandably reluctant to wear the clothing to dinner. Eventually, however, they agreed to it.

Saf fingered the lace that capped off the sleeves of her white turtleneck. "Light, how is it that you and Princess Stella of Solaria are only casual acquaintances and not best friends?"

"Well, when the princess was in the market for best friends, I was only ten years old." Light grinned. "She and I've got a lot in common, but she's seven years older than me." The lady spun around as she finished her explanation, showing off a short, asymmetrical yellow dress.

Next to her, Avi fidgeted in her suit, distinguished from one a man would wear only by the princess cut of the shirt, and Leilani blushed in her simple floor length seafoam green dress. "I feel like royalty," she whispered to the fairy of mechanics.

"Good for you," Avi said sourly. "I feel like a very reluctant mannequin."

A maître d walked up to them. "Mistresses Hafeij, Masterson, de Luz, and Castro?"

Saf nodded, and he led them to a large table where Khadijah already waited along with a pale and middle-aged man and three others, who were obviously their children. One looked to be older than Light, Avi, and Saf, though perhaps a little bit younger than Leilani. The other two were twins, a boy and a girl, who looked to be preteens. As the four girls sat down, the male twin's eyes widened. "Which one of you is our cousin?"

"I am," said Saf. "And you're Michael! I haven't seen you since you were two."

"Have I grown?"

The girl twin stuck her tongue out at him. "What a dumb question. Of course you've grown."

"Sandra, Michael, behave," said their father absentmindedly. "We have guests."

"Lots of 'em, we own a hotel after all!" Michael said cheerily. His father sighed, a weary expression on his face.

Saf smiled. "It's good to see you, Uncle Julian. You haven't aged a day."

Julian cracked his own smile in return. "That's a lie. The twins have taken at least twenty years out of me… each. Still, the time has flown, so I suppose I can accept what you say. Now you, on the other hand, look much more grown up. You're… sixteen now?"

"Almost seventeen."

"A year and a half younger than Zoe, that's right. What are you doing?"

"I'm at a special academy for high school and college students. These friends are my classmates there." Saf introduced them another time for the benefit of her uncle and cousins.

Khadijah glowed with excitement. "You didn't mention it was a college as well! Oh, Zoe, you have to hear about this school! The students include princesses and nobility, not to mention all manner of other students. It's everything a young woman could dream of."

Zoe raised an eyebrow. She was pretty in a simple short black dress, but her face didn't seem to have much emotion. Saf could only barely remember playing with her when they were kids. She thought to the laughing and smiling Zoe, then to the determined and brave expression of Mindful Heart, and wasn't sure that she could imagine this Zoe making the same expressions. _Was I wrong?_ she wondered. "Where is this school?" Zoe asked. "Morocco? Italy?"

"The USA. Pennsylvania."

Zoe looked back to her mother. "Pennsylvania. Yes, that sure does sound fancy."

Julian frowned. "Zoe," he warned.

"It's fine," said Saf, smiling as she tried to shift the conversation away from dangerous waters. "Why don't we talk about something else?"

"Yes, why don't we?" Julian agreed. "Saf, how is Rashid?"

"Rashid?" Avi asked.

The Bartons looked amused. "My older brother," Saf explained. "You never met him because he's away at school himself. He's doing fine. I hear he's considering getting engaged, but I haven't met the lucky bride yet. Do you talk to him often?"

The conversation went on throughout the soup course of the meal. Saf was pleasantly surprised at two things. First, that her relatives were relatively understanding that she hadn't spoken to them since her mother's death. Second, that even Avi and Leilani, who had not been raised in an environment that taught fine dining etiquette, seemed to be doing fine.

In fact, when a major breach of manners occurred, it was not the fault of any of the Royal Fairy Academy students.

A small beeping alerted the table that someone was getting a text message, and when Zoe pulled out her phone, she was not at all sheepish. She checked it, then began to rise from the table. A waiter quickly rushed over and pulled her chair out for her. "I have to go," she said Zoe.

"You'll do no such thing. We're catching up as a family. You haven't seen Safeyah in years, you can surely afford her a little bit of time," said Khadijah sternly.

"I'm sick," Zoe said. Her voice was flat, and she was clearly lying. "Thank you for the concern, mother. I'll see you at home."

Before anyone could stop her, she was halfway across the restaurant. Julian sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that. As you may have picked up, our Zoe is having a bit of a rebellious streak. Sneaking out to concerts, leaving dinner unfinished, not taking the slightest bit of care where she goes. She doesn't seem to understand that she isn't just Zoe, she's Zoe Barton. This hotel is successful, and we're not poor. I keep fearing someone will take advantage of her."

The four teens glanced at each other. "How long has this been going on?" Saf asked.

"A few weeks now."

That put the events in a proper timeframe for Zoe to have discovered she had magic. Again, the girls looked at each other, this time seeming to communicate mentally. By some silent agreement, Avi took that moment to look down at her nearly-empty bowl of very delicious cream of mushroom soup. "Ughhh," she groaned dramatically. "Did this have mushrooms in it?"

Julian and Khadijah looked at each other. "Well, yes," Julian said, sounding confused.

"I just realized… I'm allergic to mushrooms…"

Saf had to force herself not to laugh. Julian, on the other hand, looked concerned. "Do we need to call a paramedic?"

"No, no," Avi assured. "I just… um, I just sneeze a lot. Big, gross, snotty sneezes. Sanitation issue. I'm going to go up to my room before that starts. Thanks for dinner, sorry for the mental imagery."

Light gracefully rose from the table, allowing the waiter to move her chair out of the way. "I'll go look after her. The rest of you, please enjoy your meal, and give my apologies to the chef. I'm so sorry to miss it."

* * *

They were in Light's hotel room before they burst out laughing. "Snotty sneezes?" wheezed Light. "I should be mortified, but the fact that you actually used that as an excuse…"

"The look on the waiter's face! You could tell he overheard!"

After a moment, the two of them grew a little more solemn. "We need to find Zoe. If we can confirm she's a fairy, then all we have to do later is confront her, and we can do that basically any time we're here." Light put a hand on one hip. "Easy as finding sunlight in a clear sky."

Avi nodded. "Let's get going, then?"

Light grinned.

Two twin flashes of light were all it took for two girls to become two fairies. They opened the window into the dark Sydney night. Then, they were off.


	18. Importance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions run high when the Royal Fairy Academy girls confront the Heart Holders, and diplomacy may be the only chance to save either side.

In an ideal situation, the Heart Holders would have a secret base. Instead, they had a designated picnic shelter in Alexandria Park. By the time Zoe got there, Ildri, Evanne, and Adaline were already waiting. They eyed her formal outfit, Ildri and Evanne looking amused and Adaline looking nearly starstruck. "Did we ruin a date?" Evanne quipped.

"No, no, just dinner with my family. My cousin came to visit from the United States," Zoe assured. "So, what's the urgency for? Ildri, you said it couldn't wait, right?"

Suddenly, the girls were serious. "We tried to do it on our own, really, but you're right, we need you. It's… it's not like anything we've done before," Ildri said quietly.

For some reason, Zoe's blood ran cold. "You sound like it's life or death," she said, trying to keep her voice carefree and confident. The Heart Holders had never done anything so serious, only minor things. The one time they had been faced with a weapon, it had even turned out to be fake. What could be so serious that even Ildri could seem worried?

"Her name is Megan. She's five years old, and she's dying," said Adaline, and suddenly, Zoe knew exactly what she was expected to do.

* * *

"Will Avalon be alright?" Julian asked. "She seemed a little…"

"Just a little disoriented, probably," Saf covered smoothly. "She really is quite adverse to mushrooms, and I'm sure the uh, jetlag doesn't help." Next to her, Leilani nodded smoothly as she cut carefully into her salmon.

Khadijah looked around the table and laughed. "We've lost a good chunk of our party, but I'm sure it's fine. We can still catch up just the few of us."

Julian pursed his lips. "It's not ideal, but I'm sure we can still salvage the night. That said, Zoe will be hearing about this when we return home. There's absolutely nothing she can be doing right now that is more important than spending time with her family."

* * *

The hospital was white and bland and smelled too sterile. It didn't seem like the kind of place that four colorful magical girls would find themselves at eight in the evening. The halls were eerily empty and quiet, the silence only broken up by the occasional beeping of equipment. "It feels like we shouldn't be here," whispered Adaline in her Ocean Heart form, clutching onto her sparkly outfit anxiously.

"By all accounts, we shouldn't," Evanne… or, Void Heart… confirmed. "I think they only let us in because we're the Heart Holders. Visiting hours have been over for ages."

"Why are we even here?" Zoe's voice cracked behind her Mindful Heart persona. "I can't save everyone, and there's so many people to save."

Fire Heart… Ildri… reached out and gripped the leader's hand tightly, reassuringly. "I'm sorry I'm making you do this," she said, more seriously than the rest of the group had ever heard her be. "I just…"

"You want to save everyone that you tried to. Nobody wants to fail, especially not with a little girl on the line." Zoe was gentle. "I understand. No promises, but I'll do my best."

Ildri sniffled, and was obviously attempting to hold back tears, and Zoe couldn't blame her. After not initially getting a response from a busy Zoe, the rest of the group had attempted to rescue a family from an out of control natural fire. The two adults and two kids had been delirious and unable to speak for a few minutes after they were rescued. It wasn't until almost flying off that the Heart Holders heard the mother of the family choke out two words: "Where's Megan?"

They hadn't seen the third child in the house.

Even with Ildri using her fire powers to hold the blaze back, with Adaline pushing water onto it, even with Evanne trying to push it into a void… some disasters cannot be fully stopped.

Evanne led her friends into a room. The little girl inside did not look like a little girl, but more like a science experiment. She was hooked up to an IV and much of her skin was leathery and too dark in color. Her hair was short and completely shaved in places, and an oxygen mask was strapped to her face. Still, her breathing was shallow.

Next to her bed, a woman sat, talking to the little girl through tears. As she saw the Heart Holders enter, she smiled the saddest smile Zoe had ever seen. "Heart Holders!" she exclaimed. "Thank you all for… for trying your best. You saved Merissa and Michael's lives."

_Michael._ A jolt went through Zoe. Though she knew the woman meant her own son, Zoe couldn't help but think of her little brother, who was a total pain, but a reluctantly loveable total pain.

"Melanie, are you and Miles okay?" asked Adaline softly.

"Yes, Ocean Heart." Melanie smiled wearily. "Or rather, free from injury. I won't be okay until…" She trailed off and looked at her daughter, then over to Zoe. "Mindful Heart, I've seen you heal people before. Can you heal my daughter?"

Zoe bit her lip and walked over to the little girl. It was clear it was going to take some sort of miracle, be it of science or magic, if little Megan were going to survive. "I've never done anything this bad," she whispered. "I can try, but I don't know if it will work."

"I understand," said Melanie.

With a careful, composed breath, Zoe walked over to Megan and carefully hovered her hands over the little girl. Her wings fluttered anxiously as she focused all her magic. _Please let me do this,_ she prayed desperately.

Then, she felt someone take her hand. She looked next to her to see Ildri, who was holding Adaline with her other hand, and Adaline was holding Evanne's hand. Evanne had even brought Melanie into the circle. Zoe took Melanie's other hand. "Channel all your good thoughts and magic," she ordered lowly. "On my count… one… two… three…"

A blast of rainbow magic swirled around the room. Red fire of passion, blue water for tranquility. Black void for thought. Zoe's own white power, the power of all things alive.

As the magic touched Megan, the little girl's face grew soft and natural again. Her breathing steadied. Spots of red burns still remained on her body, and her hair did not grow back, but she seemed far from the verge of death.

For a moment, all was silent. Then, Melanie sobbed and hugged Zoe without any warning. "Thank you," the woman whispered. Then, she seemed to collapse.

"She's asleep," Adaline whispered. "I can't imagine how exhausted she must be. She was probably only staying up for her daughter's benefit."

"Should we call a nurse?" asked Evanne.

Zoe nodded. "I think so."

They managed to flag down a nurse to help Melanie out, then excused themselves and left. As soon as they walked out of the hospital, Zoe couldn't help be become grumpy. "It's really late, isn't it?" she asked her friends.

Evanne looked towards a large clock. "It's about eight in the evening," she said.

Zoe cursed. "My parents are really going to kill me for ditching on Safeyah and her weird finishing school friends."

"Are they trying to send you off to learn how to be proper and all that again?" asked Ildri.

One brusque nod from Zoe, and her friends all grimaced sympathetically. "Well, at least you're over eighteen now. It's harder for them to give you the boot when you're an adult," Evanne said in her usual blunt, logical fashion. "My parents would do the same if we were in the socioeconomic position yours were, and I'd be just as against it."

Adaline reached into her transformation dress and pulled out a shining blue locket. "I don't know if our transportation devices would work if you were outside Australia. The range between Botany Bay, Melbourne, and Sydney is already so large…"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter. I'm not leaving. Nobody can make me."

The wind seemed to pick up around them, carrying a voice to Zoe's ears. "Nobody?"

"Who's there?" asked Evanne, looking around sharply.

There was a laugh. "Well, Light, if they think nobody can make them go to our school… they're wrong!"

The four Heart Holders stared as two magical girls fluttered directly above them menacingly. There was a beat before Zoe spoke. "Heart Holders!" she ordered, "Prepare to fight!"

* * *

Lying in her hotel bed, Safeyah stared up at the ceiling. Next to her, Leilani read a large book on Earth fairy history that she had the foresight to have Light summon for her before dinner. "Where do you think Avi and Light are?" asked Saf. "Will they be okay?"

"You don't want me to answer that," murmured Leilani as she turned the page. "Knowing those two, they're never okay."

Saf rolled onto her side and clung to a pillow nervously. "Now I'm worried."

"Probably a good thing," Leilani said agreeably.

"Maybe I should go out and find them."

"Actually, I agree."

One eyebrow raised, Saf looked to Leilani. "What'll you do if I decide to go out?"

"Read. Like I've been trying to do in between attempting to dispel your worries, no pun intended."

Saf decided not to ask how agreeing with every stray concerned thought was an attempt to _dispel_ the bad gut feelings, rather than enforcing them. She stood and transformed in a flash of light blue light. "If I'm not back by ten, call the Headmistress."

"Mmhmm, have fun."

For a brief second, Saf considered asking Leilani to come with her. They could have found a way, and the sixteen year old felt safer with her older sister figure by her side. She opened her mouth to suggest it, but seeking how absorbed in her reading Leilani was, she let it pass.

Depending on outlook, that was either her best decision or worst mistake. For while a human may not fit into a battle between fairies, wisdom may have been the only thing that could calm it.

* * *

" _Elusive Darkness!"_

As the world around Light of Solaria began to grow dark, she smirked and snapped her fingers. " _Magicae Digito!_ " she retorted, using one of her easiest spells, completely confident that the small amount of light from the miniature stars could reverse the growing darkness, much as it always did.

It didn't. In fact, the darkness seemed to literally swallow the light up. Light bit her lip and inhaled sharply before trying a slightly more advanced spell. " _Luminaire!"_ she cried, and the large ball of yellow energy in her hands did manage to push the approaching void back. With that small victory, she glanced next to her, to where Avi was fighting.

The fairy of tools had a very different battle style than Light. Light's magic was sourced from all over… there was almost no place you couldn't find some form of light. For Avi, she had a much broader spectrum of powers, but they were also sometimes harder to use. She was also at an unfortunate planetary disadvantage… while all Solarians had powers related to light and space, and were therefore easy enough to train, Earth was so diverse that Avi had not yet had training in her specific brand of magic.

That made Light extremely proud when Avi managed to do something unique. With no words, no spells, no declaration of her intent, the girl managed to pull visible sparkles of magic together into a sword, an energy blade that glowed silver. Avi's brown eyes gleamed as she beheld it, and then she stuck out her tongue at the attacking Heart Holders. "Oh, y'all are gonna get wrecked now!" gloated the girl as she swung the blade experimentally.

Two of the Heart Holders… Ocean Heart and Fire Heart… looked at each other with a grin and a nod. "Time to reforge our fate then, huh?" asked Fire Heart as she aimed a blast of magic at the sword. " _Wrapping Flame!"_

Fire engulfed the sword and melted it down, and Avi dropped it, shocked by the heat. As she did, Ocean Heart yelled _"Cooling Mist!"_ and the sword became a useless hunk of metal.

The Heart Holders looked to each other, satisfied. Until Avi levitated the metal off the ground and telepathically molded it into a hammer. She made it look almost effortless, but Light could see the gleam of sweat on her skin. The shine almost distracted her from a bolt of magic that Void Heart aimed at her head. Light easily pushed it away with a solar shield, only to be hit from behind with a white energy beam. Mindful Heart, fairy of biology, smirked.

It seemed to be a standstill. Two trained fairies against four self-taught ones. A battle that might have been destined to go on forever, were it not for a low, estuary accented voice yelling "Stop this at once!"

However, it should be noted that at first, no one heeded. Avi had dropped all weaponry and was more or less mindlessly throwing beams of energy at Ocean and Fire, while Light ducked and evaded the attacks of Void and Mindful. Only when the lightning bolts began coming down from the clear sky did everyone look up.

Saf Hafeij narrowed her eyes at the battle below her. "What has this trip come to?" she said lowly, and the group strained to hear her words over the continuing sound of thunder. "Avi, Light, we did not come here to make any more enemies."

"But Saf!" whined Avi, "they started it!"

Mindful Heart drew in a sharp breath. "Saf? Avi? Light? You're all… you're those freaks!"

The six other fairies looked to Mindful Heart. "Freaks?" asked Light dangerously, just as Ocean Heart said "You know these people?"

Saf pursed her lips. "So it is you, Zoe."

"How," asked Void Heart, "do any of these people know your secret identity?"

Zoe didn't answer. She seemed to be thinking. After a moment, she closed her eyes and issued an order. "Heart Holders. Go home, now. I don't want them to find out who you are. Detransform as soon as you feel you aren't being watched or followed, and wait to hear back from me. If you don't… assume it isn't safe to continue our work."

Fire Heart looked like she was about to argue. However, the other two Heart Holders took her hands and led her away.

Soon, Zoe was alone, more or less. She was alone, minus the few people who knew her greatest secret.

Saf, decked out in a magical girl outfit of her own, smiled what seemed to be a genuine smile. "I know this must be difficult for you. The transition was bad on all of us in one way or another. It's important to know that you're not…"

"Not what? Not normal? I got that, thanks," spat Zoe. "Not able to keep normal secrets from my parents? Yeah, got that too. Apparently, now I'm not even able to do my destined job without being attacked by some finishing school freaks either."

"You're not human," finished Saf weakly. She looked hurt. Zoe couldn't bring herself to care that much.

Zoe glared. "Do you think that's what it is? Or do you think that will scare me? I'm not afraid of these powers, not anymore. The only thing I'm afraid of is that my parents will hate me, and guess what? You're only making it worse. Dead old _Khala_ Kalila's daughter, finally actually caring after over a decade of no contact. Oh, and now she's a princess and a genius too, and Zoe, you could be that as well if you stopped being a normal kid and started being _PERFECT!_ "

The eighteen year old watched as her cousin's hands clenched into fists. She did not know her cousin well enough to understand what that meant. She didn't realize that Saf did not often get angry.

Her voice was calm, even, perfectly British the first time. "It hurts." Then, she broke, and the estuary accent slipped away almost completely, falling back into the Arabic accent she'd had as a child. " _It hurts more than you can understand._ When I look at your mother, I see mine. Only I can't have mine. I look at your family, I see what mine could have been, only my father is too obsessed with his work, and Rashid hasn't visited in a year. When I look at you, I see the kind of person I could be, and might still be… the kind of person I never thought I'd be until I met Avi. A leader, a friend."

Saf took a deep, sobbing breath, then finished. "You have it all, and you accuse me of being a freak. You're correct, of course. But never, never, assume I have it perfect, or I will throw it back at you."

Despite herself, Zoe felt a little guilty. The feeling, however, was overridden by her continued annoyance. "What do you even want? Are you going to try to convince me that I need to go to your school?" She almost said "stupid school," but censored it quickly.

"Of course!" Avi exclaimed. "All fairies have to go, it's the rule. You ain't got a choice in the matter, Miss Mindful."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "I'm eighteen, an adult, and I can do whatever I want. Besides, Fix-It, I wasn't asking _you_."

Saf blinked. "That's it."

"What's it?" said Light.

Saf ignored her. "Zoe, can you prove that your magic is all intentional and well-intentioned?"

"Right now?"

"No, but if someone asked you to."

Zoe shrugged. "I guess. Why?"

"Because," said Saf. Her eyes gleamed, and she wiped away the remainder of her tears to give a small smile. "I have a way for you to continue your work here and maybe not have such a hard time."

"And why should I listen to you?"

"You should because if I'm correct, your parents will get off your back."

* * *

"The Royal Academy's special projects are very spur of the moment," Saf lied easily as she ate dinner with the Bartons the next day. "They're worth it, though, and oftentimes those who participate have a higher acceptance rate to the college. I'll be happy to text Zoe when an opportunity comes up."

Khadijah practically had stars in her eyes, stars that only got shinier when Zoe said, "I don't guarantee I'll attend, but I'd love to participate in these events."

"Could I come and observe?" asked Julian with an inquisitive look. "These events sound incredible, and I'd like to…"

Saf cut him off with a shake of her head. "To promote sisterhood, only prospective students are allowed to attend."

"So, Mum, Dad, can I?" Zoe asked. "I'll try to keep it to a few things a week, but Saf has me convinced that I should at least keep the school in mind."

"Of course," Julian agreed. "On one condition. Don't just run off with an angsty look, tell us you're doing one of these workshops. We'll be happy to let you do things if you're only kind about it."

Saf smiled. "Kindness is, after all, one of the first lessons you have to learn at the Royal Academy."

* * *

As they packed up the last of their things from the hotel room on Sunday night, Avi turned to Saf, Leilani, and Light. "This was fun!" she said.

"Definitely!" agreed Light.

"I'm glad I finally got to go on a mission, though I wish I saw more of the action," Leilani admitted. "By the way, maybe because I was out of the loop, I have two questions. Why didn't anyone just tell Mrs. Barton that we're all fairies?"

" _Khala_ doesn't approve of magic. In her religion, magic is the cause of hubris and evil, so until she better understands that fairies aren't like that, we're trying not to alarm her," Saf said. "What was the other question?"

"What are we going to tell Lysis when she finds out about the Heart Holders? I know anyone older than eighteen who is proficient in magic doesn't have to attend the Academy, but Lysis will want the Heart Holders to anyway… plus, with them being in worldwide media, she'll find out sooner rather than later."

There was no answer. Avi ended up speaking for her best friend, "Well, we'll have to have that adventure when we come to it then, right?"


	19. Ominix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a special holiday introduces the students to some new faces, new ideas, plans, and plots are brought into light.

For a good two weeks after the trip to Australia, the Royal Fairy Academy was quiet. When excitement struck once more, it was not due to a new fairy or the Apprentices, either. Rather, it was something a little more normal, a little more annual.

"The Day of the Rose is coming up," said Lysis amiably one day over lunch. "This Friday, in fact."

Roxy frowned. Around her, Macy, Marea, Katt, and Leilani gave curious looks. "What's that?" asked Macy.

"It's kind of like mother's day," Roxy explained. "Since fairy magic generally passes through the female line exclusively, it's meant to be a day to thank your mother for passing on her powers to you and to celebrate the magic that is within both mother and daughter. In Magix, it's expanded to more of a general day to celebrate the woman you were closest to as a child, usually your mom, but sometimes a special mentor, older sister, or aunt."

"It's a very big magical holiday," said Lysis. "I was unsure if we'd be observing due to the fact that humans have a different holiday, and besides you, Roxy, nobody here has a fairy mother. Bloom says we're going to celebrate anyway."

"Do we get a couple days off of school then?"

Lysis shrugged. "Sort of. Due to the Apprentices, Bloom believes it isn't safe to send you home. Instead, she's going to bring all of the women we're celebrating here for the weekend."

Katt and Macy grinned excitedly, but Marea and Leilani sighed.

It was going to be an interesting weekend.

* * *

Women began to arrive Thursday night. Morgana was the first, walking in the moment school let out, though no student saw her sneak in. She looked around at the group of girls, some she recognized and some she didn't, migrating from their downstairs classes to the dorms to change clothes and smiled. The Royal Fairy Academy was still small, but it was growing, and Roxy was growing with it. It was good to know she was making friends and becoming a leader.

Morgana glanced down at the surprise guest she had brought with her. "She's doing well, isn't she, Artu?" she asked.

Artu barked, loudly, and as he did, Roxy turned. Her eyes widened, and a smile grew on her face as she ran towards the dog and older fairy. "Mom! Artu!" she yelled.

Three of the other students turned curiously, and Roxy beckoned them over. "Katt, Avi, Amanda! Come meet my dog. And my mom too."

A chubby girl with fluffy brown hair narrowed her eyes and frowned, but the other two raced over. The tall redhead began to pet Artu, scratching him lovingly, and Avi grinned. "I didn't know you had a dog. Why doesn't he live here?" she asked.

"Cause before we knew Killian was the wizard of animals, I thought Artu could protect my parents from them, since I wasn't there to do it." Roxy patted the pup's head. "Since that wouldn't work, though, maybe he could stay."

As she finished her sentence, a large, fat tabby cat meandered into the hall, head held confidently and what looked like a cat's version of a smirk on its face. Artu's tail was up and out suddenly, his front paws slightly forward. The cat paused for a moment, seemingly in shock, then it turned tail and ran. Barking madly, Artu ran after it.

"Artu!" pleaded Roxy, "Don't chase Sir Fluffybutt!"

But it seemed too late. Roxy sighed and looked up at her mom. "Or maybe you can take him home where he isn't likely to kill Amanda's cat," she amended.

The curvy girl's eyes narrowed even more. Morgana could only assume that was Amanda. "Yes, please," she said. "Take him home by all means."

A low voice laughed behind Morgana, and the former fairy queen turned to look into the eyes of one of her favorite warrior fairies, a woman she hadn't seen in nearly six months. "Abscissa," she said, taking in the young woman's long brown hair, cool blue eyes, and perfect skin. "I assume you're here for the Day of the Rose? It's been a while."

"It has, and you're correct," said Abscissa. "I wasn't sure my younger sister would invite me, but… she really _rose_ to the occasion. Eh?"

Morgana stifled a laugh. Amanda's sour face grew a little mellower, and Avi burst out into giggles. "That," said Avi, "was pretty good."

"I try," said Abscissa with a shrug. "Now, could someone point me to my sibling? I'd like to make sure she's doing okay."

"I'm right here!"

Lysis stepped out from behind a corner. She was grinning, something that both Morgana and the students knew was very, very rare.

Abscissa's smile grew, and she picked Lysis up. "Nice to see you, my Ly- _sis_!"

"And you, Ab- _sister!"_ returned the serious fairy.

The four teens looked at each other in absolute shock. Morgana smiled. "Lysis, dear, it's always odd to see you with your sister."

Lysis blushed. "Yes, well, I can get kind of childish around Abscissa. She makes me feel like a kid again, after all. She's one of the only people who can do that. I think by the time I was captured by the Wizards, everyone had more or less forgotten how to treat kids. I had to grow up pretty fast, and I'd bet I'd be even more serious if not for her. I'm glad I met her."

"Met her? Isn't she your sister though?" asked Avi bluntly.

Abscissa smiled. "The thing about fairies being immortal is that there can be some serious sibling age gaps. I was grown, on my own, and captured before Lysis was even born. I'd been in Tir Nan Og for about fifteen years when Morgana came to me and told my parents had another daughter, and she had been captured that day, and would I mind taking care of her?"

Lysis looked at the ground. "I was eleven, barely in middle school. The Wizards had no need for Specialists in their master plan, so they… _disposed of_ … my dad, and my mother fought too hard for them to take, so they did the same with her. This sister, who I had never met, she was all I had."

For a moment, all was silent. Morgana was the one to break it. "The war broke up almost all of our families. I can only beg the Dragon that this war does not do it all over again."

* * *

It seemed to Saf that everyone had _someone_.

Roxy had her mother, with her aunt also promising to come on Friday. Katt, Amanda and Marea had managed to secure ways for their parents to visit the United States for the weekend. Avi and Macy's parents came from California, and even Leilani asked her best friend since childhood to come and be her guest (which was unconventional, but eventually cleared by Bloom).

Saf thought about asking Khadijah to come, but that would mean explaining magic, and that would jeopardize the Heart Holder's identities (which granted, even Saf wasn't aware of. She had tried to get Zoe to give her the names and ages of the others, but as Zoe knew the Academy was a requirement for those under eighteen, she had blatantly refused to provide the information on fear of losing a teammate). Even if Khadijah could accept magic being good, if there was any chance that meant breaking Saf's deal with Zoe, it wasn't a risk she could take.

Saf sat out on the steps in front of the school, her long, thick hair blowing in the wind. The cold October air bit as it whipped around her, but it was the kind of bite that felt good.

Suddenly, someone sat down next to her. "Hi, Saf," said Tora.

"Hello, Tora. Waiting for your mother?" asked Saf glumly.

Tora snorted and shook her head. "My mother passed years ago."

"Older sister?"

"No older siblings. I'm waiting for my younger siblings. They wanted to come celebrate me."

Saf frowned. "Wait, weren't you the second youngest trapped fairy, with only Lysis younger? How do you have younger siblings?"

"Oh, they're not fairies," said Tora. She sounded slightly distant, lost in thought. Suddenly, she jumped up as a car pulled into an empty space on the street. "Oh, that's them!"

"How are they not fairies?" asked Saf, following Tora down the many steps towards the parked car.

"They're technically my half-sisters. Our dad was a Specialist, but my mom was a fairy and theirs is a human," Tora explained as she hurried down the stairs. "They have some magic from his line, but not enough to transform."

The car doors opened, and two girls popped out, both completely identical. They looked to be not much older than Saf. "Tora!" exclaimed the one from the driver's side.

Tora smiled. "Hi, Devri. Hi, Signy. It's been a while. This is my friend and student, Safeyah Hafeij, by the way."

The twin who hadn't yet spoken grasped Saf's hands enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you!" she said. "I'm Devri. You're the fairy of thunder, then, right?"

"Lightning!" corrected the one who must have been Signy absentmindedly.

Saf turned to Tora quizzically. "Have you spoken of me?"

Tora shook her head. "Nope. Remember what I said about _some magic?_ "

As they began to walk up the steps towards the school again, Devri (Saf thought it was Devri, anyway) hastily explained. "Even though we're girls, we're basically stuck with the same power set as Specialists have. See, most girls have tons of magic which they can manipulate however they want, while guys only have, like, a little. It can only do things like help fairies and witches as an extra power boost, or do minor psychic things."

"Operate magical weaponry, dragon ride… well, if there were still any dragons left on Earth, anyway." The other twin gave a sheepish grin.

"Basically, though we're girls, we have Specialist powers only," Devri? concluded with a smile.

Tora sighed. "And since the Wizards went out of their way to eliminate all magical beings besides fairies, who they desired to capture more than kill, my little sisters are the only Specialists left on the planet. Lucky for us, the Black Circle belonged to a bunch of sexist pigs who had no clue that they could be psychic warriors."

"And hopefully," said one of the twins… at this point, Saf had definitely lost track of which one was which… "The Apprentices will think the same, and our plan will go… well, according to plan."

"Your plan?" asked Saf.

Tora nodded. "A plan that will hopefully stop this awful war in its tracks, and perhaps save us all."

* * *

Devri and Signy were a huge hit with both the young students and their guests, though nobody other than Tora seemed to be able to tell the two apart.

They dominated the dinner conversation, though not in an annoying way. At age twenty-two, they were hip enough that the students could relate to them. For the adults, they offered a unique historical view. They were some of the last… if not _the_ last… members of the magical community who remained alive and uncaptured during the Black Circle Genocide. Their views from relative safety were of great importance to the Tir Nan Og historical records, and Morgana made them promise that they would record their observations down for posterity.

They were not the only popular dinner guests. Vanessa and Mike Peters, Bloom's adoptive parents, had made a trip to see their daughter. Mike amused the entire room with the headmistress's baby stories, causing Bloom's face to grow redder than her hair while Vanessa laughed quietly. Katt's mother Nora told all sorts of wild summer camp stories from her own youth, and Avi's mom, Jennifer, recounted all sorts of stories that she had studied as an Arthurian literature professor. As she did, Morgana squirmed uncomfortably. Roxy laughed a little at that… Morgana had lived through that time period, and was probably reacting to some incorrect information. Bad history tended to make her upset, but she was likely too polite to correct it outright.

As the dinner drew close to a close and small cups of ice cream were brought out for dessert, Bloom stood. "I'd like to propose a toast," she said. "The Day of the Rose is historically a day to celebrate the magic that passes on through the female line and acknowledge those who used it before us. When it begins tomorrow, however, we will have to find our new meaning in it. None of the people here are mothers who passed down powers. However, that far from means these women didn't make us who we are today. The courage they taught, the love they passed on, the magic of kindness they gave us… I think that's just as good. So, to all the strong women of now… and the future ones I have the honor of teaching… thank you. Cheers!"

The group returned the sentiment and dug into their sundaes.

* * *

As the families caught up after dinner, Saf retreated to the classroom corridors, knowing that the empty dorms would soon be populated by mothers and sisters.

She shouldn't have been surprised to find Light there, but she was.

The Solarian girl turned and smiled at her friend. "Hi, Saf. Alone for the Day of the Rose?"

Saf nodded uncomfortably. "Yes. My mum passed when I was young, and I don't have any older sisters."

"You've got it a little worse than me, then," Light said with a small laugh. "I have seven older sisters, my mom, and tons of noble ladies who have influenced me. They can't come here, though, not with the barrier in the way."

"Can't you at least call them?"

"If I called my mom she'd demand I return home. She might even make the demand of Nebula, and I doubt the Queen wants me here bad enough to make an enemy out of Solaria. It's better for the Earth if I maintain my radio silence." Light's face fell. "I have no intention of leaving until this world is safe. I have too much to protect."

"You're brave."

"I am? Why?"

"Because you have a choice in the matter. You have another world, a safer world, that you could retreat to. You're the only one here by choice."

Light sprang up from the chair she was sitting in, ran over to Saf, and grasped her hands tight. "No, Saf, you need to understand. I'm _not_ brave. I ran away from my problems, and I'm too chicken to go back. If I return home, that's that. I'm stuck in a life of luxury and prison, and I will never be allowed to live down my cowardice. Here, I have choices, and though the stakes are high, those choices are much less scary."

"Light…"

"I'm afraid of being Lady Light. I'm afraid of doing what Lady Light has to do. Stella was stuck in her princess role, you know, but when she proved herself as more than a princess, that's what she became. I'm here not because I'm brave, but because instead of accepting my destiny, I just want to turn away from it."

"But Light," said Saf, "that is very, very brave of you."

Light froze. "Do you think so?" she asked after a moment.

"I don't know about Solaria, but on Earth, all of our favorite stories are about those brave people who fight destiny, and they always need and possess a lot of courage."

Light hugged Saf suddenly. "That's just what I needed to hear. Thank you, Saf." Then, she pulled back, gripping Saf's shoulders tight and smiling softly. "Hey… let's hang out together this weekend. Since we're the two who don't have anyone else right now."

Saf smiled. "It would be my pleasure."

* * *

Leilani's best friend was in shock.

"To think," she kept saying as they walked through the lovely, old halls. "This place was just down the street from us all along? And you live here now, among princesses and ladies!"

"Y'know, Alexa, I was just saying that exact thing a couple weeks ago."

Alexa's eyes were almost like stars, shining with excitement. "Do you think they'd let me in as well?" she teased.

"Oh come on, you know you couldn't do all this extensive magical history study I have to do," Leilani rejoined. She stuck her tongue out for good measure. "I guess if you suddenly discovered magical powers, though, they'd have to let you in."

As they passed through a dorm corridor, Macy Silverman passed with a large pot of lavender. "Hey, Macy!" Leilani said. "Where's your mom?"

Macy blushed beet red for whatever reason. "U-um. Mom and Mitzi are coming up but they won't get here until tomorrow. You should. You should meet them."

"Perhaps," Leilani said. "If there's an opportunity. No classes tomorrow, right? At least that means we'll have time to hang out, whether individually or in a bigger group. As long as you're okay with Alexa here joining us, that is."

The small fairy looked up at Alexa. "Is she your…"

"Alexa and I are super close!" Leilani said with a grin, hugging her best friend tight. "I've known her for ages. We used to spend all our time together, before I came here. She's my best friend."

"O-oh." Macy made a face. "So you're not dating?"

"Not that I wouldn't, but her brother and I have been together for a couple years now. He'd have come, but I told him this was strictly girls only."

Macy's face fell. "Oh. Well… I have to go!"

She ran off. Dirt spilled out of her lavender pot. Leilani frowned. "Macy's normally a lot sweeter and less, uh, erratic than that."

Alexa shot Leilani a look. "I think she has a crush on you and you just… well, you crushed her."

"Macy? Have a crush on me? No way," said Leilani.

Still, something nagged in the back of her mind. _Is that true?_

* * *

After getting her parents settled into the dorm where they would be staying the weekend, Bloom excused herself briefly. There were other people she had to give her love to.

She video called her birth parents. "Mom, Dad, I wanted to say thank you for all you've done for me, and Mom, thanks for passing on your powers to Daphne, and then to me. I wanted to call tonight because I may be too busy to call tomorrow."

The conversation was stilted, formal, trying too hard to be normal and failing miserably. Bloom felt the truth of her earlier speech about what parents passed on to their children, and all Mariam had passed on was the magic that the day was meant for. That, and nothing more. That was not her fault, was not Bloom's fault, but it was true.

After a ten minute exchange of pleasantries, they hung up and Bloom called Faragonda.

The other headmistress picked up on the first ring. "Bloom?" she asked.

"Oh, Ms. F! I wish I could hug you right now. Happy Day of the Rose!"

"Bloom," Miss Faragonda chided jokingly, "you know that's a day for parents."

Bloom grinned. "Like you didn't practically raise me and the Winx for the three years we were there. How are the girls, by the way?"

Faragonda wove a tale of the last two weeks. She told Bloom about Harmonix and the Creature of the Rainbow Mantle. She recounted the girls' shock at learning their very powers were on the line, of their acquisition of the Gems of Self Confidence and Empathy. "They have about eleven days to find the last gem. I am confident they will."

There was a pause, then Faragonda asked Bloom, "Do you possess the Great Book of Fairies, still? Or did the Winx take it back with them to us?"

"I have it, somewhere. When I moved from Gardenia to Harrisburg, I put it in a box, and I'm still not completely unpacked."

A grim look fell upon Faragonda's face. "Find it, Bloom, and soon. I was given a dream last night that told me to tell this to you."

"A dream?"

"I'm certain if I told you a yellow-robed spirit came to me as I slept and offered a few wise words, you'd know exactly who I would be speaking of?"

"Daphne."

Faragonda only nodded. "She and I want you to remember one word. _Ominix._ "

"Ominix? Is that a new fairy form?"

The older woman hesitated. "I want you to read about it and then call me with any questions. Remember, both our dimension and yours are in terrible trouble, and drastic times call for drastic measures. Do not be quick to dismiss any ideas that are presented. That was always the downfall of the Earth Fairies… you are too stubborn for your own good."

"Miss Faragonda…"

"I must go now. Keep in contact. Remember the word. Ominix."

"Ominix," Bloom repeated.

Then, the screen grew dark as the connection was lost.


	20. Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Day of the Rose means a special challenge for the girls of the Royal Fairy Academy. Can they overcome it?

The Book of Fairies was packed in between Bloom's least favorite pair of blue jeans and a stack of the young adult werewolf books she read in her freshman year of high school. She pulled it out, dusted it off, and immediately panicked; it was _huge._ Many times during their last adventure, Tecna had offered magical assistance towards finding correct passages… after all, books were a relatively recent piece of technology. Now, the volume of a couple thousand thin, fragile pages, looked overwhelming.

Bloom didn't know a spell to make the book fall to the exact right page, so she resorted to lower level spell-less magic. Still, she uttered one word like an incantation all its own. " _Ominix. Ominix."_

As she flipped through page after page, barely even concentrating, at last the word in question caught her eye, as part of a true legend. Earth seemed to have a lot of those, she noticed. In most of the magic dimension, fiction and fact blended into a strange type of history that no one could claim was one hundred percent true or one hundred percent false, or even a majority either way. With Earth, the stories they told their fairy children were straight from history. Bloom, a sucker for fairy tales until the end, had asked resident historian Tora to tell her some.

That was the only reason she could recognize the names, places, events surrounding Ominix. She put the Book of Fairies away and pulled an old Earth history book to her desk in its stead.

She pressed the intercom button on her desk. "Tora, this is Bloom. Please report to my office at your earliest convenience. I have some questions about Agrippine Octavia."

* * *

 

The moment the name of Agrippine was spoken, Leilani's ears perked up. It was nine in the evening, and she was getting ready to get in bed and maybe do some fairy history reading of her own, but plans abruptly changed.

Alexa, already lying on the air mattress set up in Leilani's large dorm room, gave her friend a look. "Where are you going?"

"I'll be right back," Leilani non-answered.

Holding her nightgown up to avoid tripping over it, she raced down the stairs, trying to get to the first floor quickly. It was on her last flight of stairs that she ran into Tora. "Tora!" exclaimed the girl, her breathing heavy, "Can I come with you to meet Bloom? I want to know more about Agrippine and…"

"Leilani, at this point, you know almost as much about her as I do," the teacher responded, obviously amused.

"All the more reason I should come. I can help."

Tora thought for a moment, then nodded. "If Bloom is alright with it, so am I."

Bloom was alright with it. "You're the president of the student body. You deserve to know if something happens that can fix this war."

"You think it's that important?" Tora frowned. "What exactly do you want to know about Agrippine? There's no proof that she's still alive, much less that she would be able to or agree to help us."

"I'm aware. This is more about her achievements from before she was cast out of our species. Have you heard the term Ominix?"

Tora blinked. "As in the Ominix Experiment?"

Bloom nodded and pushed a large book forward. Leilani recognized it; the same book was in her dorm room. "You're familiar with it?"

"I am."

"Read this. Leilani deserves to know, and I'd like to hear this story again."

Tora cleared her throat and began.

* * *

 

_In the early days of the Black Circle Genocide, when fairies were still numerous and still hopeful, there was a fairy known by the name of Ada. She was a fairy who had little interest in other fairies, being the last of the winged in her line. Her sister Marie, as well as her seventeen daughters, had all taken the path of the witch. As such, the Fairy Hunters showed them no mercy, for their magic was useless for the Black Circle's dark purpose. Soon, Ada alone survived, despite her family's impressive displays of magics._

_Ada was shocked that her daughters were so easily defeated. Each had climbed the witch's path to strange and powerful heights. As we fairies can summon multiple magics for new situations, so can a witch, and these women had done so. Cursix, Cognix, Malevix, Villix. Finally, she who was considered the most powerful of Ada's daughters achieved Ominix._

_The Wizards could not kill her with magic. They shot her with a human gun, and as she crumpled, Ada watched from the sky._

_As soon as her grief subsided even slightly, Ada began to put her knowledge of magic to work. In those days, every magical person knew of the Law of Gifts, which meant that even a power you could never have used under normal circumstances may be used if it is freely presented to you by someone else who has gained it, though for each time it is gifted it becomes less powerful. A fairy, if presented with this most powerful of witch magics, could use Ominix. A fairy was valuable for the Wizards, and they would not kill her lightly. A fairy with Ominix might save them all._

_Ada knew witches, nearly all of the few who survived. She persuaded them to give her this gift, and thus, Ada, fairy of Shadows, became the first Ominix fairy and the most powerful._

_She began to share her gift, though not often, choosing only those that she trusted, one or two at a time. Each would inevitably die or disappear, remaining uncaptured, but still, the powers were passed on. Even if no one else believed in Ominix fairies, Ada did._

_She likely was the only one. Ominix gifted more than magic, but also the spirit of witches… the independence, the aggression, the fierce loyalty even when it is unintelligent to be loyal. It made these fairies less docile to their rulers, less able to obey orders, and more likely to use dark magic. Though Ominix was never banned completely, to use it became to allude to rebellion, though these Ominix fairies still loved their Earth and their people and few would have dreamed of such an act._

_The Ominix fairies that have been discovered are, in order, Ada, Elohia, Agrippine, Ophelia, Bianca, Blanca, Matilda, Vida, and…_

* * *

 

"I, Historia, fairy of the histories and rememberances, the last of the fairies of Ominix," Tora finished, looking uncomfortably. "As well as the only survivor. I alone carry this power after the death of Ada and all remaining witches. Only through me does it exist."

"And she's gone now, isn't she?" Leilani asked. "So that power is gone?"

Tora looked to the floor. "No. No, it isn't. Before Historia died, she granted it to me. Me, and one other."

"Lysis!" Leilani blurted out. "You two both have it, don't you? You two were close, and both her students."

Tora nodded. Bloom, however, was the next to speak. "Why don't you two look any different than the other Warrior Fairies then? New powers come with new looks. I've seen enough of that to know it's the truth."

"We don't use it," Tora explained. "It's a witch power at its base. The more we use it, the less fairylike we become… we start to take on the qualities of witches. Historia granted it to us because she wanted to preserve it. At the time, we had no clue any witches existed in the universe still, and we knew they were gone off Earth. We believed we might have been the last ones to ever achieve it, and any historian can tell you that you try to save what remnants of ancient life you can. We were going to be living examples of what Ominix could do, but very rarely, and never for fighting."

Bloom thought. She had never heard of the exact Law of Gifts before, but the ancient Earth Fairies remembered magics long forgotten by modern Magix. Besides, she decided after a moment, she had seen it in action. The Trix had been given their powers of Gloomix and Disenchantix… they hadn't really earned them. Though they had been given different names, at the end of the day, they were just fairy transformations with a different title. Even more, as they used their repurposed powers, they changed, too. Now, they were more docile, more loving, getting attached easier. Icy, cold and unshakeable at the age of eighteen, had managed to be somewhat romantic and clingy by the time she was twenty-four.

Far from fairies, but also quite far from the witches they once were. It almost made Bloom cringe to think that the reverse could be done.

Bloom looked down at her desk and tented her fingers thoughtfully. "What would we do if Ominix was our best hope?"

Tora frowned. Her eyes were cast towards the floor still and her mouth turned downwards. "We hope that it isn't."

* * *

 

The next morning, all normal classes were cancelled, but Bloom, Tora, and Lysis still required all students and visitors to report to the auditorium bright and early.

Roxy, Morgana, and Nebula sat near the back, talking lowly about the Apprentices… though Morgana was more or less up to date, she hadn't heard much of it from Roxy herself. In front of them, families spread out in the large room. Doctor Silverman and Mitzi had finally arrived. The older sister seemed to be sulking while their mother talked to Macy. Across the room, Marea was speaking animatedly to her own mother, looking more enthusiastic than Roxy had ever seen her before. Close by, Signy, Devri, and Tora sat on the stage, their legs dangling off of it and far above the floor.

Bloom walked into the room, followed by her parents, and it grew quiet suddenly.

As Bloom climbed onto the stage, she smiled. Roxy saw a weariness to her, as if she had been up late. "Welcome, students and guests, to the first annual Royal Fairy Academy Day of the Rose Celebration!" Everyone cheered. "Since it is a Friday, and we're all still here at the school, I've decided we will still do some exercises today." A groan went up. "Hey, we're here to learn to defend ourselves, and it'd be no good to slack off. Don't worry, though. I'll try to make this fun."

"School? Fun?" Roxy muttered. Nebula snorted, and Morgana glared at them both.

"Most of you have more than one visitor," Bloom continued. "Today's activity… or should I say _competition…_ will require each student to pick one, and only one, partner. The two of them will face many challenges together, both of a magical and nonmagical variety. To make things a little more fair, assistance on magical parts will be provided for those without powers. If each student will please pick a partner now and come to the front so we can record who is participating?

Roxy immediately hugged Morgana. "Sorry, Aunt Nebula. It wouldn't be fair to the others if the Fairy Queen competed."

"I was the Queen for longer than she was," Morgana pointed out.

"Operative word there being 'was,' Mom."

In the line in front of her, she saw interesting pairings. Some students had simply picked their mothers. Others had sisters. She even saw Light teaming up with Signy, and Saf with Devri.

When all teams had been registered, Bloom grinned. "The gauntlet starts on the second floor. The first team to get all the way through it wins. As for rules… you must follow the individual instructions on each stage. You may ask for help, and each team decides for themselves whether or not they wish to assist other groups. Partners must be within ten feet of each other at all times, and they must both be on the finish line in order to win. There are ten stages altogether. Are you ready? On your mark… get set… GO!"

* * *

 

When the teams burst from the stairwell into the second story hallway, they were shocked. "It's… it's…" stuttered Macy.

"A labyrinth," breathed Avi. "Or, well, almost."

The usually normal hallway now twisted and turned. Walls made of a glassy translucent crystal were all around, and through them the girls could see small rooms. The first room was right in front of them, large enough to hold everyone comfortably. Sofas, desks, and benches were inside, but the main focus was a long table at the back of the room, with folded pieces of paper sticking up off of it.

They all walked in and each student took the piece of paper with her name.

Saf looked to Devri, her partner. She and Light had decided it wouldn't be fair to have two students on one team, so Tora had been gracious enough to suggest that her twin sisters work with the two girls. "It's a riddle, I think," Saf said as she unfolded the paper and read it. " _To turn this maze, you must use me to help sand create this maze. To feel the warmth of a victory, you must feel the warmth of me inside your heart. To set yourself free in the face of your enemies, you must set me free in the face of your enemies. To progress, place me in the first fork in the road."_

Next to Devri, Signy and Light frowned. "That isn't what ours says," said Light. " _To find the way inside or outside of this maze, use me. To feel the warmth of a victory…_ okay, that's the same, but then it says, _to lose me is to fall to darkness, but to have me is only worth something if you use me."_

The twins looked to each other, grinned, then looked to their respective partners. "Your powers!" they exclaimed in unison.

Light nodded, and the two teams ran off. Quite a few teams were still puzzling over their clues, but Light and Saf were not the first to be done with the first station.

Hopefully, though, they would be the first to get to the end.

* * *

 

Leilani and Alexa had what was either a handicap or a severe disadvantage.

"What are we looking for again?" Alexa groaned as she sat on the floor and dug through a bookbag full of magical objects.

Leilani looked to the clue they had been given. "Uhhh, something _shaped like the letter 'x,' light as a summer's day, and soft as a silken feather were it not carved of stone_."

"Yeah, any idea what it could be?"

"Not one."

Alexa frowned. "These are all magical items, right? Can't the correct one just float to the top?"

"That'd be too easy. Bloom wouldn't have done that. Why don't we take them out one by one and see if they meet the qualifications?" suggested Leilani.

"Nah, it'd be quicker if we just dumped them on the ground." Alexa stood and turned the backback upside down.

The items rushed out of the backpack, but before they hit the tile, they began to float, spinning in midair. "Nice!" Alexa exclaimed. "That's super cool. Okay, so now if all the ones shaped like an 'x' could come forward…"

Only one thing did… a beautiful butterfly carved out of amethyst. Leilani grabbed it and placed it into the slot where they were meant to put it. Next to it, an engraving flashed on the wall. _To take the left path is to meet your doom, nonmagic user. Take the right path._ Before their eyes, the wall became a door and opened before them, leading to a fork.

They were five steps in, heading to the right, when they were thrown backwards. Alexa cursed as Leilani blinked. "Do you think we picked the wrong item?" asked the visiting girl.

"It certainly seemed correct," Leilani said thoughtfully. "I don't think the door would have opened for us if it was wrong."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Alexa.

"I think it's obvious. We head down the left path."

Alexa stared. "Did you not see the whole think about meeting our doom? Like, it may have just been me, but I felt that was very important."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. Someone will definitely help us out. I'm sure of it."

* * *

 

Avalon laughed when she and her mother got to the fifth station. It was a pit. Nothing else but a literal pit. Perhaps it was the easiest obstacle in the entire challenge, and though there was no door back to the previous challenge, Avi felt confident that none would be needed. "Okay, Mom, I've got this," she said with a wild grin. "Just let me get my wings on."

A flash of light later, she was transformed, her metal wings fluttering quickly. Her mother looked down nervously at the pit… it seemed bottomless.

"Ready?" asked Avi

"Um," said Dr. Masterson.

Avi tried to hoist her mother up. Even with the extra fairy magic, however, flying across a pit with her mother alone seemed impossible. "Perhaps we should wait for help," she said sheepishly.

As though on cue, two people fazed through the wall at that moment… Leilani and Alexa. Avi's face soured. "Oh. You can't help."

Alexa's eyes narrowed. "Wow, rude much?" she shot back. "Give us half a chance. We have magic items." Without paying much attention to her surroundings, she dumped the backpack's contents on the floor. Immediately, several pieces rolled across the floor and fell into the pit. "Oh. Oops."

Leilani facepalmed, then looked around the room. It was empty, apart from the pit. The big hole in the room was about eight feet long, and spanned the entire width of the area. Like Avi, she noted that there was no limit to the depth. "I'd bet that's a voidspace," she said wearily. "Where the professors got the magic to set it up, though, I have no clue. You have to be practically as powerful as a god to create one."

"What's a voidspace?" asked Avi dumbly.

"It's… it's like a pocket dimension of floating. If you slip into it, you end up falling with no stop whatsoever, but because everything is dark around you, it just feels like you're stuck floating there. Just you, and darkness, and, you know, air. Supposedly, it's pretty comfortable, but it gets irritating and can drive you crazy if you're in there for too long. It's hard to mount a rescue operation too, but my guess is that the professors are prepared for one just in case." Leilani waved her hands vaguely. "They're pretty good about that stuff. At least, I hope they are."

Dr. Masterson looked nervous.

Alexa, however, looked excited. "You mean all of our missing items are just floating there? Can you see into it? This is rad."

She leaned over the side and stared into the voidspace.

Then, she wobbled.

For a splitsecond, everyone was frozen.

Avi was the first to react, racing towards the other girl at top speed. Alexa slid a foot back, attempting to get her balance, and then leaned away from the pit. Avi abruptly found her aim messed up. Wings nearly screeched to a halt, but it was too late. She ran into Alexa head first.

Alexa cried out as she was pushed forward.

Then, into the voidspace she tumbled.


End file.
